Bite the Bullet
by Madame Onyx
Summary: Levi has accepted his life as a boring 29-year-old teacher, save for a few of his students (mainly that idiotic Jaeger and infuriating Ackerman) and his new neighbors (he isn't falling for his neighbor's sister, no, not at all) and has fallen into a boring routine. But your past can catch up to you, now, can't it? (LevixOC) (warning: violence and explicit sex in later chapters)
1. Meet Levi

**This is Levi and OC, Armin and Eren, Mikasa and Annie. All these characters will get their own chapters eventually. **

**For the record, Riren is my OTP, so this was kinda weird for me to write.**

**Also for the record, I hate OC stories too, so if you stop reading it because of that I totally understand.**

**Sex, alcohol, drugs, PTSD, guns & knives mixed with Levi's sarcastic ass, Eren's idiocracy, Mikasa's blunt honesty and OC's general ditziness. Yeeeah. And then there's Annie. **

"Did you hear? Did you?!"

"Hanji, shut the fuck up."

Levi smoothed his bangs over and hid his irritation by taking a sip of black coffee and leafing through a set of graded quizzes. After three years of working with her he still wasn't able to handle her enthusiasm at times.

Petra Ral, the 2nd year health teacher, gave her a sympathetic smile and asked, "Is this about the new Spanish teacher?"

"Yep! The real deal, straight from Spain! I heard he's super qualified and _really _good looking. I wonder if he'll bring any precious minerals with him." Her eyes widened and sparkled with newfound fire. "Did you know that southern Spain is renowned for rare stones and—"

With a sigh Levi stood up and gathered his things, making his way out the door. It was 7:15 on a Monday, only minutes before class started. Already kids filtered through the first level of lockers and art classes, wasting time on their phones or mobile consoles instead of studying.

His temple throbbed as a couple of freshman watched him pass with awe. _Brats, _Levi thought, taking another drink of coffee and making his way up the stairs to the second story to his classroom.

Flipping on the florescent bulbs that produced more light than the November morning did, he started his usual routine of sanitizing his desk and writing utensils. His room was simple; a large rectangle with five rows of six desks, a dry erase board and pull down screen with a projector hanging from the ceiling and a single four foot tall bookshelf holding quite a few books written by Fitzgerald, Lewis Carol, Poe, Homer, Shakespeare (although he hated Shakespeare with a passion), and George Orwell.

He realized that his walls were bare in stark contrast to other English teachers, but he was the 12th grade teacher and found that he didn't give a shit. They were 18, too old for motivational posters and shit like that. The only decoration was his board that Hanji posted school announcements and club flyers on.

Many found it hard to believe that Levi was an English teacher of all things; he spoke only when asked or when he deemed it necessary, and when he did he used rough language and ineloquent jokes that only ever seemed to appeal to his sense of humor, crude and twisted as it was.

He watched the minute hand tick down as he went over the agenda for the day and was interrupted by a student knocking at his door.

Levi looked up and clicked his tongue. "Jaeger. What could you possibly need at this time?"

Eren Jaeger, a senior taking his course. At first meeting Levi found he couldn't stand the boy—he had a loud mouth, lacked the ability to think before speaking, and had something of a temper. But as the class went on he found that Jaeger had the most ferocious determination of any student he had ever come into contact with. He may not have been as studious as his friend Armin or as naturally gifted as his adoptive sister Mikasa, but he put a hundred and ten percent into anything and everything he found purpose in. And to be honest, he was a bit entertaining to mess with.

"Mr. Chevalier—"

"I told you brats a thousand times call me Levi."

"Mr. Levi," Eren huffed. "I was…I want to ask for an extended deadline on the paper due today."

"You better have a damn good reason."

It was only when Levi examined him did he see the bruise blooming on his jaw and a small cut on his cheekbone. Eren caught his glare and shook his head.

"Oh—no, no these have nothing to do with it. Horseface and I—anyway, I wanted more time to work on it because," here he got stupidly bashful, "I don't think it's good enough."

"Good enough for what? It's just a book report, brat. Five pages is all you need."

"…I want to submit it to the Scholarly Admissions Office." Levi raised his eyebrows. "It's on my favorite book_. _Right now its seven pages long, but I'm not finished with it. I want it to be the piece I send in. So it has to be the best I've ever written."

Levi hummed as the morning bell rang and a few students started walking in. "Alright Jaeger, tell you what. You submit what you have and I'll go over it with a fine-toothed comb. Don't cry when I point out every single flaw you write. Also, you'll have to come to my office after school tomorrow and we'll go over what you need to add. If you're late, don't show up or don't focus I'm failing you, got it?"

Eren grinned with a devilish gleam in his teal eyes and thanked him, rushing out the door and bumping a few students out of the way. Levi shook his head and stood, passing back his papers.

"Shut up and listen. Half of you did great. The other half obviously skimmed through Sparknotes and thought they could wing it. So, those of you that got below a C get to write me an essay of 500 words telling me why illiteracy is a negative in our society."

Levi arrived home at his complex, taking the usual elevator up to the fifth floor. He unlocked his door and turned on his lights, taking off his shoes and flipping on all his lights.

He turned on his TV and let his sports jacket fall onto the couch. Walking to his fridge he opened his door and grabbed a water bottle out of the side cart, running an eye over the lunch meat, milk, eggs and few vegetables he had, utterly uninterested in dinner.

He returned to the couch and watched the weather, every now and then looking out his skylight and observing the rosy clouds swirling in the sky.

It was like this. Calm, quiet, routine. It wasn't all boring; he read books, went to movies, and attended the occasional faculty trip to a bar and the like.

At 7:30 he heated up a hot pocket.

At 7:56 he got to work.

At 9:42 Levi tidied up his house and did laundry.

At 10:50 he called it a night and went to bed.


	2. Meet Inez

Levi left the meeting with Jaeger and drove home, thumbing his steering wheel to the beat of Led Zepplin's Black Dog. Not many people would peg him as a classic rock fan, but he could name you every major rock album from The Beatles to Queen.

He parked in his spot in the parking garage and locked his car, lighting a cigarette and walking slowly to his complex, watching cars go by for a bit before hearing a voice call out, "Levi?"

Levi looked over towards the garage to see none other than Julius Lovel, the new Spanish teacher, heading toward him with his bag and blazer still on. Julius was tall, a bit over six feet, with cinnamon skin and rich brown hair. He spoke with a strong accent and gave off the general feel of friendliness. It was no secret that the senior girls were overjoyed to have him as their teacher.

"Mr. Lovel," Levi acknowledged. He threw down his cigarette and stomped it out.

"Just Julius, is okay. Mr. Lovel makes me feel old." A playful smile graced his lips. "Do you perhaps live around here?"

Levi nodded and started walking away without warning, leaving Julius to catch up to him. "I live in 5B."

Levi was caught off guard for a moment before responding, "So you're the new neighbors that wake me up at two a.m."

Julius chuckled nervously. "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. It's probably my sister. She's kind of clutzy and tends to drop whatever it is she's doing when she trips over herself."

They entered their building and got on the elevator, Levi pushing the fifth floor button. "And her reasoning for doing these things at such an ungodly hour?"

"Ah, her job." They exited the elevator and turned the corner to their rooms. "She's—"

"Julz!" Standing in front of room 5B was a women hardly taller than Levi, sporting a cream hoodie under a leather jacket and combat boots. Her curly black hair was back in a ponytail, with clean cut bangs resting just above her eyebrows. She had a smaller black backpack over her shoulder and wore a tired expression.

She met them halfway down the hallway. "Finally! Do you know how long I've been sitting out here on my ass for you?"

She stopped when she noticed Levi walking beside him. "Who's this?"

"Oh, Levi, this is Inez, my sister. Inez, this is—"

"The neighbor that you wake up every morning playing generic music or tripping over your own feet. Pleasure's mine."

Her eye brows disappeared under her bangs as they shot up. Thinking he had achieved his goal of stunning her, Levi made his way to his door. He stopped when he found a fire-eyed woman in the way.

"Hold the fuck up. Generic? The Strokes are not generic. Nor are The Black Keys, My Chemical Romance, or Florence and The Machine. If my music is too loud just say so. I'll turn it down." Inez twirled away and flounced down to their door, giving Julius a pointed look when she reached the door.

Julius gave Levi an apologetic smile. "See you Monday?" He trailed off uncertainly, taking out his keys when Inez started tapping her foot.

Levi watched as the pair entered the room, Inez giving him a smirk as she closed the door. Levi shook his head, a whole new kind of headache setting in.

Levi browsed through the shelves of the convenience store on the same block as his complex. In his basket was an array of microwavable dinners, breakfast bars, canned fruit and a bag of salad mix that will probably go bad. He added in a few protein shakes for meals on the go.

This was probably why Petra kept bugging him about getting a wife. Someone to cook well-rounded meals and make sure he takes his vitamins and all that crap. But at 29 he still had the mentality of what he had when he was 18; it'll happen eventually. He'll find some women that he could stand being around, and one who could stand his cleaning habits and lack of romance.

Maybe he could just marry Petra. He knew she admired him, at least, and back when he was first hired he couldn't walk five steps without a nervous, blushing Ral around him. She was cute, really, and seemed like a patient soul.

Levi sighed. It was so much trouble. He wasn't good with people, with feelings, with anything deeper than what poems were talking about or what symbolism meant in writings.

As he was mulling over his life choices he caught a somewhat familiar voice in the opposite isle. Peering through the shelves he spotted a mass of black curls bouncing around as Inez looked from one can of spices to the next.

"Julz, they don't have cumin. Yes. _Yes. _Cumin? C-U-M-I-N? _Koo-min? _Yeah, that don't fucking have it. They have oregano, do you need oregano?" Levi rounded the corner and for some reason decided to go down the same aisle as the loud amber-eyed woman talking tiredly on her phone. "Seriously? Julius, I'm not going to another store half way across town right now, I just got out of the gym and I stink, I need to shower—what? Then _ask her! _Julz, I'm hanging up. Nope, bye. _Bye," _she snapped, stuffing her phone into her jacket's pocket.

Now that Levi looked closer at her he could see the healthy flush of red under her cheeks and took in her skin-tight pants and Nike shoes. He didn't know what to do or say when she noticed him and gave him a curious lopsided smile.

"Hey, Levi, right?"

"Yep. And hey is for horses." What the hell was he even saying?

She rolled her eyes and looked back at the shelves. "You sound like my third grade teacher. He was my least favorite."

"Really."

"Really. He'd always spank me with a ruler and call me a naughty girl."

Levi's eyes widened.

"Um, wow, kidding. I don't know what inspired me to say that."An awkward moment passed before Inez scratched her head and declared, "Well, nice seeing you, Levi," and turned away only to be stopped when he spoke up.

"Hold it. You need cumin?"

She looked confused before responding, "Yeah..? How did you know?"

"It's not hard to hear your domestic problems with your brother when you're practically shouting at the spices."

She laughed, embarrassed. "Uh, yeah. So what, you have any cumin?"

"Yeah, I do. It's in my apartment if you want to walk home with me." One year, as something of a gag gift, Hanji had gotten him a carved wooden shelf wrapped in plastic with a small assortment of spices. "I never cook so, it's just sitting uselessly in my kitchen."

"Really? That would be so helpful, thanks."

Levi nodded and started down the aisle towards the cleaning supplies. Inez followed and watched intently as he browsed the products, picking up different solutions and dusters. At one point he heard a small chuckle while he comparing two different detergents. He looked over and found Inez turned away from him, hand over her mouth.

"Is something funny?"

She couldn't meet his eye and shook her head. "Nothing." Levi continued to stare until she bit her lip. "It's just…you're concentrating so hard on something I don't think twice about."

"So I amuse you."

"No!" She started sweating, slight panic in her face. "Don't make it sound like that! It's just cute to watch—" she froze, her mouth still half open and blush more prominent. _Not bad._ Levi absorbed the sight before him before turning away and placing the product of his choice in his basket.

Back at his apartment Levi scrounged around in his sparse pantry for the rack and watched Inez out of the corner of his eye as she stood and fidgeted in place, looking around his apartment at the lack of pictures, décor or any real personal touch.

He handed her the entire thing and stopped her protests with a dismissive flick of his wrist. "Don't worry about it. It'll sit there for years before I throw it out."

"Well, thanks again." She started to leave but held back, looking as though she had something more to say. "Um, you know, Julius always cooks way too much food for just the two of us. So…if you're ever in mood for something not made in the microwave…I'm usually up til like 4 a.m. anyway so, no matter how late it is…" she became more flustered as she went on and Levi failed to find it annoying as he usually did when someone got flighty around him. "Just, if you're hungry and want some real food just knock and we'll be there, okay?

"See you." She hurried out the door and Levi found himself smiling, making sure to quickly wipe it off his face.

_What the hell was that? _He had thought of her as something other than annoying twice within an hour. He pictured bright gold eyes above rosy cheeks and smiled again.

"So, Julius, how's the new place working out for you?" Hanji inquired over morning coffee in the third level's teacher lounge. Levi did his best to tune them out as he read the paper.

"Oh, pretty good. It's much bigger than my old house in de Grácia. I love the kitchen, I've never had so much space to work with before. And Inez really loves the location." Levi's ears picked up at the mention of his sister.

"Oh, your sister? How old is she?"

"She's 24."

"Does she go to a nearby college or work somewhere?"

"She got her Bachelor's Degree in computer science three years ago in Madrid. She's an I.T. at Recon Industries. But she's so good that they have here write up and design her own software and anti-virus for the employees to use. She also translates a large portion of their copyright to Spanish and Japanese."

Well. Levi was a bit more than _slightly _impressed.

"She's basically a glorified nerd."

"A_hem!_"

All the eyes in the room—Hanji, Levi, Julius, Petra, Auruo, Rico and Nanaba—turned to the door where a young woman with wild black hair and a graphic layered tee stood holding a large bag around her arm.

"Glorified nerd, huh?" She sat the bag down on the table and took out a plastic box. She sat it down on the table and flipped open the lid, exposing the cake with chocolate frosting and beautiful flowers lining the edges. "And to think I went through the trouble of making this cake especially for you."

The room was silent.

"…Inez, you obviously bought this cake."

"Whatever," she bought out a present wrapped in silver paper with a big blue bow on it. "I paid extra for that weird marble mix you like." Her eyes briefly met with Levi's. "Hey Levi."

Levi just nodded and ignored the curious looks from Petra, Auruo and Hanji.

"What's going on?" Hanji finally piped up from her spot. "Julius, is it your birthday?"

"Oh, uh yeah. It is. But, Inez, we were going to do this later tonight."

"Yeah, well, I got called in by my asshole boss and have to actually go to a meeting tonight. Actually, in an hour. So we're celebrating now." She stuck a big 26 shaped candle on top of the cake and pulled out a lighter. "Okay, everyone sing with me on three, got it?"

She lit the candle and counted to three, smiling when Hanji ecstatically started off with a booming soprano and encouraged everyone to join in. Even Rico and Nanaba lowly sung along, with Levi bringing a nondramatic baritone into the mix.

Everyone clapped when Julius blew out the candle and Hanji catcalled when Inez gave a swift kiss to Julius' cheek. A slight blush showed on her cheeks and she glowered, taking a seat next to her brother and bringing out plates and plastic forks before uncovering a knife to cut the cake up.

"So, I suppose you're Hanji?"

Hanji nodded her head vigorously. "You teach biology, right?"

"Oh yeah, as well as biochemistry and microbiology. I love the sciences that show how different forms of life work."

"That's really impressive. Who wants cake?" A number of hands showed and she started to cut slices up. "I remember dissecting a couple of things in my biology class. Like a squid. Or a cow heart. Ooh, I think we looked at a brain at one point."

"Really?" Hanji took her slice and started eating it. "I've been thinking about bringing in some pigs instead of the usual frogs, or even some cats donated by the humane society—"

"Um, can we not talk about dissecting things?" Petra made a face, expressing her disgust. "At least not while eating?"

"Come on, Petra," Levi drawled from his spot, playing with his piece of cake instead of eating, "you can talk about naughty times and sticking peg A in slot B, but you can't talk about dead animals?"

"_Pfft," _Inez held back laughter and covered her mouth to avoiding spitting out any cake crumbs.

Levi watched her with interest until Hanji slapped him on the shoulder and told him to stop picking on poor Petra.

"Here," Inez placed the box in front of him and watched as he unwrapped it, revealing a whole new set of cookware.

"Whoa," Julius breathed out, running his hands over the box before opening it, lifting out one of the pans and marveling at its weight. "Inez, thank you!"

"No prob," she replied normally, the spark in her eyes betraying her aloof attitude. "I don't know who pisses himself over getting some fancy brand of pots and pans but, whatever rocks your boat, I guess."

"This coming from the girl who cried when I bought her the original Japanese Collector's Edition of Kingdom Hearts 3."

"Shut up," she hissed, pinching his arm.

"Humph. Glorified nerd, indeed," Auruo chimed in haughtily.

Petra scolded him while Julius patted Inez's arm, willing her to calm down the glare she was giving him.

They spent the next hour chatting, most of the dialogue being between Inez, Hanji and Julius, with some thorny commentary by Levi.

"You're an English teacher?" Inez asked.

"Yep," Levi sipped his tea.

"What's your least favorite book?" She inquired. Levi was caught off guard. Usually people asked what his _favorite _book was or what got him into literature or what was the most influential poem you've ever come across?

Levi thought for a while before answering, "_The Scarlet Letter_."

"Really."

"It's so pretentious. And all any professor wants to talk about is the 'symbolism, the symbolism!' Honestly, it's pretty cut and dry when you re-read it, with little or no development save for the pastor. I just hate it. That's all."

It was the first time many in the room had heard Levi talk that long, much less on a subject he was even remotely interested in.

"Not that you asked, but mine was _A Tale of Two Cities._"

Levi hummed. "Do tell."

"Well, first off, the language is horrid. Unless you like decoding every other sentence you read about fifty times, it's a nightmare. And you don't care about Lucie's situation, even if you can understand what's happening to her. You don't _feel _for any of the characters, save for Dr. Manette. It's crap. Compared to _Oliver Twist_ its shit."

"_Oliver Twist _is pretty good." Levi agreed taking a small bite of cake.

"Inez, it's almost 1. When is your meeting?"

"Uh, 1?" She grinned sheepishly at her brother.

"Lunch break is nearly over anyway," Petra got up, throwing away her plate. "It was nice meeting you, Inez. Come on, Auruo," she added with genuine annoyance seeping in to her sweet voice.

"Nice meeting you, too," Inez managed to get out without much grace. Rico and Nanaba gave small smiles to her as they left. Hanji flat-out hugged her. "Feel free to drop by anytime, Inez!"

Inez kissed Julius one last time on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, birthday brat," she sing-sang, grabbing her backpack and fishing keys and a helmet out of the bag. Levi cocked an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.

"What? I drive a Suzuki. V-Storm. Don't judge."

"Wasn't about to."

Inez rolled her eyes as she walked away. "Sure you weren't."

_Maybe if I ignore her long enough she'll go away. Whose fucking idea was it to combine the science and English offices together anyway?_

Even stone will wear down over time.

"What?" Levi forced out. Hanji's shit-eating grin widened as she perched in her spinning chair.

"You know, I distinctively remember you saying how much you hate sweets. Cake in particular."

"So?"

"So how was Inez's cake?"

Levi slowly raised his gaze from the shit essay he was correcting to face her with the most stoic face he could muster.

"Hanji, listen carefully. Because I'm only going to say this once. Whatever you think is going on, it's not, so shut the fuck up."

"I didn't say anything," Hanji pouted, laughter sparking in her eyes. "I just asked you about cake. Oh, also, what about _Oliver Twist _makes it so good, anyways? I'm sure Inez could go on and _on _about it—"

Levi dropped his pencil and fisted her collared shirt up, pulling her face closer to his, cold fire in his eyes. "Hanji, you will drop it right now or so help me I will shove this poster so far down your throat that you _will shit out the staples." _

Hanji's mouth trembled as she fought back her laugh and held up her hands peacefully. "Sorry, so sorry."

He let her go while muttering under his breath and gathering up his things. He gave her one last glare before leaving the office. Hanji watched him, shaking her head. _Well, this is interesting. Think I'll have to invite a certain someone to the next office party._


	3. Vampire or Werewolf?

Julius' phone had buzzed five times. Levi felt a twitch in his temple every single time and willed the accented bastard to come back in and turn the thing off.

He appeared as if by magic and apologized for his phone, glancing at the screen and smiling slightly as he read. Levi found himself watching, wondering if it was from Inez, whom he hadn't bumped into since last Saturday morning.

He was going to get his mail, the key in his fist and squinting his eyes at the bright sunlight as he walked, shivering slightly in the chilly breeze. As the mailboxes came into sight so did the form of none other than his rambunctious next door neighbor.

She had on sweatpants and a band tee shirt, her hair down and framing her face still raw from waking up. He didn't look much better with his rattiest, most comfortable pair of jeans and plain white tee, but at least he had taken it upon himself to brush his hair and rinse off his face.

"Your hair looks like it's angry at the world," Levi greeted as he opened his box. _Great Levi. Fantastic job. While you're at it just mention the bags under her eyes or how she smells like last night's pizza. _

"Well, I'd rather it be my hair than my face," she shot at him and stuck her tongue without much energy, closing her mail box and going through the letters she had found there. Levi was silent until:

"That cake you brought in was awful." _God-fucking-damn it, Levi. _

She gave him a confused look and then it cleared up just as quickly as it came. She shrugged and started to walk away. "Well, that was more of a formality, anyway. Julz always bakes his own cake for us to eat on throughout the week." Levi found himself slamming the mail box shut and taking a few elongated steps to catch up with her. "It's awesome. He made a chocolate-cherry mix and covered it with this buttercream frosting and sprinkled coconut shavings and macadamias on it. I can feel my teeth rotting out whenever I eat a slice," she grinned.

"It sounds disgusting."

"It's a little too sweet," she admitted, walking with him up the stairs, "but Julius always goes overboard on his cooking. And the dumbasses I work with really seem to enjoy it. Especially my boss."

"Your boss?"

"CEO of Recon Industries, Erwin Smith. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, the whole Captain America package. You wouldn't know it, but he's a full grown man with a nine-year-old's sweet tooth."

Levi didn't know what possessed him to look at her and say, "Erwin's always been like that, even as a kid."

Inez froze in the middle of the hall with him and stared. "What?"

"His favorite candy use to be peach rings. Don't know if his shitty taste changed or not, but he use to eat them every Friday after school."

"Hold on. Are you saying…you're childhood friends with the CEO of Recon? Seriously?"

Levi blinked, slowly realizing that he was receiving some kind of sick gratification from the wide-eyed look of surprise she was giving him. "It's not that amazing. We stay in touch, go out for a drink from time to time."

"Whoa. Small world, I guess. So you heard that he's getting married?"

This was news. "No. I didn't know that."

"Yeah, a woman named Marie. She's a lawyer or something. She came into the office a couple times and I guess they just started seeing each other over a couple months. They look really happy together. There's always this cheesy lovey-dovey feel to the office when she's there." As the breeze picked up she tucked a side of her hair behind her ear, giving a smile. "Erwin smiles a lot more often. I'm happy for him."

They stayed like that for a moment; Inez looking at the sky, Levi looking at her.

Then the ravenette shook herself and pulled a face. "Ew. I apologize, that got all mushy. Well, see you, Levi." She turned and said over her shoulder, "And call Erwin to congratulate him, you ass!"

Levi clicked his tongue and went back inside, replaying the scene of Inez smiling like a moron into the wind. _She should smile like that more often._

"Let me guess. Inez."

Julius nodded and typed something into his phone, a half-smile that strongly resembled his sister's etched on his face. He sat his phone down and continued eating his chicken salad while scheduling his agenda.

Levi wasn't aware he was staring until Julius gave him a dubious glance. "Um, what?"

"…nothing."

_What did she say? What is she doing? Who is she with?_

Yep, just start interrogating the man on the activities of his younger sister. That would go over well.

Levi expected to see many things on his walk from his car to his apartment. That old man who was always seemingly smoking on the corner; the plants lining the entrance that seemed as though they were on the verge of withering; the billboard with month-old ads pinned to it haphazardly.

A half-drunk Inez singing to Lady Gaga through her earbuds with her ass planted on the ground outside her own apartment was not one of those things. She still had her bag and heavy army green jacket on, leading him to believe that she had once again locked herself out.

He decided the best course of action was to stand in front of her awkwardly and wait until she noticed his presence. Which she did. Eventually.

"Leeeevi!" She exclaimed, standing up with a little help from the stability of the wall behind her. After yanking out her earbuds she gave a loopy smile and rested one hand on his shoulder. "How're ya, Levi? How's life? Oh! I wanted to ask you!" Levi felt frozen as she took the other hand and ran her fingers through his hair. "What shampoo do you use? Your hair always looks so silky."

He allowed her to play a bit more with his hair before moving her hand away. "I'm guessing that you left your key in your apartment."

"Mm-hmm."

"And that you're locked out."

"Yep."

"And I'm also guessing that Julius won't be back soon seeing as its 11:30 on a Friday night."

"You are psychic, I swear you are."

Levi gave her a pointed look and unlocked his door, jerking his head in the direction of his living room. "Get in here, Bright Eyes."

"You're letting me in your house?" Inez wondered as she walked by him, turning her head at comical angles to look round the space. "Man, I forgot how freakin' clean this place is." She dumped her bag on the love seat and meandered about, commenting on the few objects found.

"So what's the story behind this night, Inez?" Levi placed his case on his dinner table as usual and started undoing his tie. "Why are you buzzed and locked out of your own apartment?"

"Oh, I went down to Buck's"—the local bar and grill—"and met up with some of my respected co-workers. And we watched the game and Erd said I couldn't down a beer faster than him and I called bullshit so we raced and I won." Inez took off her shoes at the door. She proceeded to attempt removing her jacket only to somehow get it stuck halfway down her arms behind her back. "So then Gunther wanted to try it and then Dieter and suddenly Luke comes out of nowhere and beats me and I get pissed and we played flip cup and I fucking kill at that game."

The entire time she talked she struggled against her jacket, trying to work the complex maneuvering of her limbs like a confused mannequin. When she had almost succeeded she seemed to lose interest and instead took to examining his meager DVD collection.

"You have a thing for musicals?" She asked curiously, eyeing a copy of _Chicago._

"I have a thing for Catherine Zeta-Jones," he replied, sitting on his couch and opening his laptop. Inez laughed.

"Yeah, she's pretty hot. Zellweger's a blonde stick next to her."

Levi shook his head. "Inez, would you like some assistance in getting rid of your jacket?" _And maybe your shirt and pants, too? _Levi felt his focus blur.Where the fuck did that come from?

Inez scowled. "No. I can do it." He watched for another minute as she performed this inebriated dance of entrapment before he got up and went over to her.

"You sound like a three-year-old." He chided, gripping her jacket sleeves and tugging it off her arms, carrying it over to the closet where he put it on a hanger. He turned back to see Inez now rifling through his movie collection making a range of faces at the various titles.

"Every single _Star Wars, King Kong, Edward Scissorhands, Good Will Hunting, Jurassic Park—_oh! _Interview with a Vampire! _Yes!" She held it up to her chest and gave a pouty face. "Can we watch this? Please? Also, do you have food?"

Levi rolled his eyes and started warming up the DVD player. "I think I have some snacks in the pantry."

As Inez dug through his kitchen Levi stared at the screen vacantly. What was he doing? Inviting someone into his house, watching a movie he didn't really want to watch, letting Inez make a mess of his kitchen. And what was that random sexual predator thought earlier?

"I found the pretzels!" Inez announced, marching back into the living room with a large bowl in her arms.

"Congratulations." Levi found Inez now sitting in the seat next to his and watching the screen.

"What?" She asked through a mouth full of pretzels.

"You don't want to sit on the love seat?"

"Um, no? It's at a weird angle to the TV. Besides, I want to sit next to you," she added casually, popping more salty pieces in her mouth.

That statement was in no way romantic nor sexual, yet Levi found himself feeling a rush as he sat next to her, knees nearly touching. Thirty minutes into the movie Levi got back on his laptop to finish his work.

"So whatcha doin?" Inez asked, not looking away from the TV. Levi didn't raise his gaze as he replied, "Work. Typing up the next test."

"Oh." Silence. "Would you rather be a werewolf or a vampire?"

Levi lifted his eyes to give a retort but stopped when he took in the red on her cheeks. He huffed. "Are we talking Underworld werewolves or Twilight werewolves."

"Underworld, obviously."

"I'll go with vampire."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Inez looked at him and shook her head. Levi rested his chin on his hand and lowered his voice. "They get centuries to perfect the art of seduction."

Inez blinked and turned away. "Okay, good point," she mumbled. Levi smirked.

"Which do you choose?"

"Werewolf," she said without hesitation. "You're a regular human except you can eat a crap load of food, have super strength and healing powers, and then every full moon _boom! _Wolf mode with the gleaming fangs and slashing claws. It's metal," she finished, a childish grin on her face.

"You sound like a teenager."

"That was only 5 years ago. How long's it been since you were a teenager?"

"Don't be a brat."

"I'm not a brat. You work with brats." Inez resituated herself on the couch so that her back was against the armrest and knees bent. "Why _do _you work with brats?"

Levi shrugged and put away his computer. "Long story."

Inez waited. And waited

"What."

"No time to tell it?"

"Nope."

She leaned forward and put her chin on her knees. "You really love playing that mysterious card, don'tcha?"

"Maybe I just don't see the point in telling you my life story."

Inez glared. And sat up, movie forgotten.

"My favorite color is green."

Levi raised an eyebrow when she looked at him expectantly. "…I guess I like yellow."

She crinkled her nose but went on. "My favorite food is sushi."

"Stir-fry."

"Veggie, chicken or beef?"

"Beef."

"Favorite movie is _Secondhand Lions_."

"_Pulp Fiction_."

"Nice."

"Can you hack?" Levi suddenly asked. Inez's eyes widened.

"Um, yeah. Anyone can hack, it's pretty simple. I'm probably better than most, but definitely not the best. I've chatted with the best. You want to stay on their good side."

"Where did you learn how?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Did you go to college?"

Levi challenged her look. "…Yes. A community college."

"And before that?"

Levi looked away and was suddenly engrossed in the movie.

Inez sighed. "I learned a lot from a guy named Zeke. He was a German exchange student in my middle school and we took I.T. class together. I guess he was trying to get into my pants by getting past the mainframe of the school's system and completely rewriting the schedule to cancel school for two weeks. I got him to show me the basics and went on my own from there, meeting others through the web. They taught me a lot of shit you can't find anywhere else.

"After that I messed around with little stuff—social networks, copying files, even infecting systems with viruses—before I met—" She stopped short and smiled. "So why a teacher?"

"You never give up, do you?"

"Mmm, nope."

"For a while I…wanted to go into writing. Long story short shit didn't work out and Erwin pulled some strings and helped me land a job."

"How long have you known Erwin?"

"Since…" Levi had to think about it for a moment. "The fifth grade, I think."

"Whoa," was all Inez had to say. She felt something more than happy and a little embarrassed now that she had sobered up a bit and started thinking clearly. To have Levi sharing this info with her was a huge boost to her ego.

The movie crawled to an end and Inez yawned. "¿Qué hora es?" She mumbled drowsily, slipping into a Spanish accent. Levi blinked, his attention recaptured.

"What was that?"

She gave him a confused look. "What time is it?"

"1:45." Levi answered.

She rubbed her eyes and groaned, "Ugh, _joder_."

Levi felt a slight shiver move him forward to a leaning position. "Do you always slip into Spanish when you're tired?"

"Oh, is that what I've been doing? _Lo siento, Bello." _

"What does that mean?"

"What does what mean?"

Levi looked away. "Nevermind. Have you heard anything from Julius?"

"Nope. He last told me he was at a bar with this girl from the pharmacy he's had his eye on, so I'm assuming they're at her house."

"I see." Which meant that she would have to stay the night.

"Yeah, Julius works fast with the ladies. If I got half the tail he did I'd be one happy camper," she stood up and stretched.

Very naughty thoughts floated around the man's head as she walked to the bathroom.

"Good night," Inez snuggled down under the fleece blanket on the couch in his living room. Levi nodded and started to head for his bedroom.

"Hey, Levi?"

He stopped.

"Thanks for letting me crash here. Really."

"Like I had a choice, Lovel."

She smiled. "So stone-cold. When you're really a softie underneath."

He scoffed, scratching at his neck. "You're embarrassing when you're tired."

"You're cute," Inez grinned and turned over, yawning. Levi stood there for a moment before muttering and making his way to his bed, a restless night waiting for him.


	4. Wonder Woman

Inez tugged her scarf up to cover her chin, cursing the wind in several dialects under her breath. It was bullshit that the bookstore was so far from her apartment when it was so cold out. November was ending; Thanksgiving decorations were being replaced by Christmas décor, stores started playing jolly music and coffee shops started promoting her favorite peppermint mocha beverages.

Her earlier coffee sat warm in her stomach as she carried her bag in her hands, a few family members' presents resting inside.

It was a little after three and most of the people out were high schoolers or parents out running errands or getting home.

She froze when a loud grunt echoed out of the alley way she passed reached her ears. She held her breathing and craned her neck, straining to hear more.

The familiar sound of a fist meeting flesh made her skin crawl and she put her bags down, stealthily entering the alley and coming across four high-school aged boys.

Two were standing while the third had the fourth kid in a headlock.

Inez felt her muscles fire up when one kicked the trapped kid—_hard_—in the side.

"Hey, _pendejos._"

When the nearest one turned to look she connected her fist with his acne-scourged face in a fiery uppercut, sending him sprawling. Using the momentum she pivoted on her left foot and snapped her knee up, delivering a swift kick to the other's middle and throwing him against the metallic dumpster.

She gripped his arm and threw him against the other kid on the ground, stepping towards the victim and locking eyes with his trapper.

"Let him go, asshole." She said lowly, cracking her knuckles for show. His face grew pale and he released the brunette, backing up and tripping over his own feet to run. The other two picked themselves off the ground and stood like deer in the headlights.

They stared.

Inez glared.

She took a lunging step forward and they scattered, shouting vulgar words over their shoulders. A broken laugh sounded from the crumbled figure slouched against the wall and Inez was at his side in an instant.

The kid was a mess. His face had a nasty bruise forming on his jawline, another under his left eye. The bridge of his nose was purple and split, and his bottom lip was busted. She could only imagine the horrors underneath his shirt.

"Hey, you still breathing? Can you answer me?"

He let out a raspy breath and raised his head, peering at her with cerulean eyes under messy brown hair. Inez brought out her phone. "I'm calling a ride to the hospital—"

"No!" he nearly shouting, cringing and holding his side as he coughed. "No," he repeated, weaker this time.

"Kid, you need to get some medical help—"

"No…hospital," he got out, brows furrowing in defiance as he struggled to get up, face contorted in pain the entire way. "I'll go…home," he barely got out.

Inez helped him stand up. "Where do you live?"

"Shinganshina Boulevard."

She shook her head. "That's half way across the city." She draped his arm over her shoulders. "You'll come to my house and we'll patch you up. Got anyone with a ride you can call?"

"My…sister."

"Good. Stay awake till we get there and I call her from your cell. Hey, stay awake. You hear me, asshat?"

He licked at bleeding lips. "Yeah."

It was a laborious ten minute walk to her building. When she finally unlocked the door Inez brought him inside straight to the couch, leaving the door open. She sat him down and threw her backpack onto the nearby chair, rooting around in the bathroom for their emergency kit.

"Hey, your phone. And can you take off your—"

"Inez, what the hell is going on here?"

Levi had left work early that day. Hanji was going on and on about the upcoming science fair and succeeded in driving him out of the entire building.

When he got off the elevator on his floor he noticed dirty footprints and drops of blood on the floor.

Leading to the Lovels' apartment.

Whose door was wide open.

At first he lingered uncertainly in the hallway, staring at the blood like an idiot. Then he felt the unfamiliar rise of panic quicken his pulse and he dropped his stomach. Without thinking he nearly sprinted into the room, finding a very bloody Eren Jaeger sitting his scrawny ass on Inez's couch as said woman was rooting through his pockets.

"Inez, what the hell is going on?"

She snapped her head around gave him an exasperated look. "Kid, what's her name? Your sister?"

"Mikasa."

Inez found his phone and froze. "Mikasa Ackerman? Pretty Asian girl who doesn't give a shit about much?"

Eren nodded.

Inez shook her head and found her in the contacts, tapping the call button and waiting as it rang.

"No, really, Jaeger, what is going on. Why do you look like shit?" Levi approached him, removing his coat and rolling up his sleeves.

"Hi, Mikasa? It's Inez, from the gym. Yeah, hey you know where my apartment is? Yeah, you need to come get your idiot brother." A pause. "No, he's okay, I think, haven't taken a look at him yet, but he's breathing and conscious. I'll explain what happened later, just get here, take the elevator, get off on the fifth floor, 5B. Okay, bye."

Inez put down the phone and took off her jacket. "Levi, could you help him get his coat and shirt off? Eren, was it? Tell me where it hurts the worst."

Levi met Eren's eye and gave a nonplussed huff. "Well, let's not make it awkward, Jaeger."

Even now the kid's face turned red and he sat up, sides twitching. While Inez washed her hands and got out bandages and anti-bacterial cream, Levi tried not to be too harsh as he helped Jaeger disrobe. She came back with a warm washcloth and a bag of ice.

Even Levi let his breath hiss out between teeth when Eren's torso was revealed. Inez made a face and sat on the coffee table mere inches away from him.

"It's—my side," Eren told her.

Inez ran a critical gaze over the bruises on his abdomen and the giant one blooming at his ribcage, already purple and black. She ran feather-light touches over his side. "This is going to hurt," she warned before digging her fingers into the bruise on his ribs.

Eren yelp as she squeezed different parts and moved on to his abs, the muscles shivering as she poked and prodded.

Levi watched uncomfortably as the brat was felt up, imagining himself on the couch under Inez's ministrations.

Inez sat back with a satisfied smirk and raised the washcloth to his face, thoroughly dabbing at the blood on his face. "Good news is, no feeling of broken bones and no sign of internal bleeding. Bad news is you look like shit."

When his face was more or less cleaned she gave him the ice pack and instructed him to hold it against his eye. As she dabbed his nose in peroxide Levi took it upon himself to answer the door when a knock sounded.

As expected, Mikasa wore a less-than-pleased expression when he opened the door. Her dark blue eyes widened in surprise when he answered.

"Hey there, Ackerman."

He moved aside as she barreled past him, dead-set on the living room where she absorbed the sight of her brother at the mercy of her Inez.

Inez had just pressed a bandage to his swollen nose and was handing him a few painkillers and a glass of water. She gave an awkward wave at Mikasa and placed a set of clean clothes by the boy.

Mikasa sat next to Eren and turned her piercing gaze on Levi. "What happened?" She asked steadily. Levi shrugged.

"I don't know shit about this. Ask _her." _

Mikasa looked at Inez as she was packing up her kit. Inez sat down on the loveseat across from them. "I was walking down Fifth Street and found Eren in an alley. I pulled him off his ass and wanted to take him to hospital, but the asshat wouldn't go for it, so I dragged him here."

Eren slid on the clean shirt that was a bit too big for him and scowled. "You left out the part where you threw two of those assholes on the ground."

"What?" Both Levi and Mikasa harmonized, sharing a look.

"These douchebags were bothering some girl at the bus stop, so I told them to fuck off and they dragged me into the alley. I could've taken them," he shot Inez a look. Inez got up and slapped his head.

"That one guy had you in headlock while the other two beat the shit out of you, moron." She turned her gaze to Mikasa. "I would've expected you to teach him some things, Ackerman You've handed me my ass in the ring plenty of times."

A challenging spark ignited between the two women as Ackerman looked up at her. "I have. He's out of practice."

"Alright, hold up" Levi rubbed his temples and walked to the center of the room. "So you," he pointed at Eren, "decide to get your ass beat down, while you," he gestured to Inez, "play Wonder Woman and save his sorry life. Meanwhile you and _you_," here he glared at Mikasa, "bloody each other up for fun." He crossed his arms. "Am I missing anything?"

Eren looked confused, Mikasa shrugged apathetically, and Inez had her finger at her chin, thinking.

"…"

She turned to Mikasa and Eren. "You guys have a friend named Armin Arlert?"

They nodded.

"Yeah, he's an intern at my job."

Levi swore at the ceiling and paced toward the door and back again. Inez gave him a quizzical stare. "What are _you _getting so worked up about?"

"Because you—" Levi stopped as Julius walked in. The tanned teacher stopped in his tracks when four pairs of eyes turned on him.

"What's going on here?"

Levi snatched his jacket and bag and left the apartment without another word. He stormed into his own place and locked the door, heading straight to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of Merlot and a glass. He went to the living room and sat on his couch, turning the TV on to the news channel and mindlessly listening to the weather.

What _was _he getting so worked up about? Maybe it was how ridiculously worried he got when he saw the door open. Maybe it was watching the brat from his class getting felt up by the girl next door. Maybe it was imagining Inez going up against some stupid thugs in an alley.

Maybe it was because she was becoming a bigger and bigger part of his life.

Levi swore again and downed a class in one go.

Her face lit up by a smile.

He took another sip.

Those huge, tiger-like eyes narrowed in concentration as she stared at her screen.

He poured another glass.

Inviting him over for food. Debating werewolves and vampires. Asking about his favorite color like it mattered. Her drowsy face when she first woke up. Skin-tight spandex pants hugging her legs. Locking herself out of her own apartment. Stuttering when he got too close in the elevator. Laughing at his shit jokes.

He tried to pour another glass. The bottle was empty and he contemplated throwing it against the wall.

Instead he put it on the table and slouched down lower on his couch.

He was so screwed.

"What's his problem?" Julius asked after Levi left. Inez shrugged and started explaining what happened that day when Mikasa stood up.

"Thank you for your help," she said coolly, making sure Eren could stand. "We'll be going now."

"Wait!" Eren said, walking up to Inez and sticking out his hand, a determined look set on his banged up face. "Eren Jaeger."

"Uh…" She grabbed his hand and shook it. "Inez Verbena Sofía Carmen Valerie Lovel. Nice to meet you, Jaeger."

Eren blinked at the sudden flow of Spanish music and grinned. Inez waved at Mikasa. "See you Saturday?"

Mikasa nodded and gave a small smile, dipping her head at Julius. "Señor Lovel. Sorry for disturbing your evening."

"No problem, Mikasa. Take care, Eren."

When they left Julius turned to Inez. "Was he wearing my shirt?"

Inez shrugged and trudged up to the bathroom, ready for a shower.

As she let her hair air dry she sat on her bed and started working on Gunther's network—idiot had somehow caught another virus—and stretched out on her bed while waiting for the anti-virus to work his system.

It gave her time to contemplate her day. Well, maybe a single person included in her day.

Only a few hours earlier Levi had stormed out of her apartment, no words spoken. Had he been angry? Irritated? It wasn't like she had really dragged him into anything. That had always been the rule she had set up for herself: don't bother Levi. She tried her best to stay out of his _(silky) _hair as much as possible.

But if Levi was bothered by her talking to him or asking him things, he was the kind of man to let you know. He did it to Hanji and Auruo all the time, so why was Inez the exception?

Actually, Inez had reached the conclusion that Levi wasn't as uncaring as he let on. He just hated showing any form of emotion other than anger or indifference. He wasn't one for fancy words or sweet nothings; he said what he thought needed said and didn't indulge anyone he didn't hold worthy to his inner thoughts.

She wasn't too surprised when he mentioned he was interested in writing; he gave off the aura on intelligence, of complex inner workings going on under that stoic _(sexy) _face.

His face. All sharp angles and arched eyebrows and thin lips. She felt her olive complexion was a blemish compared to his flawless porcelain skin. His smirk made her insides tighten; his chuckle made them melt.

Let's not get started on how her idiotic heart decided to run for cardiac arrest when his eyes—some weird mix of steel grey and arctic blue—focused on hers, irises flashing with some inner fire contained behind that icy exterior.

He was probably a beast in bed.

A groan got stuck in her throat as she retreated fetus-style into herself, covering her face and writhing around in her bed. Oh God, what was she thinking?!

But now she was imagining it; him gripping her shoulders and pushing her against a wall, that sexy face close to hers, breath on her lips and grey eyes flashing. What would he look like with his shirt off? He had pretty broad shoulders, and his biceps—_hnng. _He was probably toned; she had passed a window room with a treadmill and lifting set in his apartment, along with a yoga mat.

Would his kiss be soft and sweet, hard and hungry? Would he use tongue, and how much?

Maybe if she asked real nicely he would bite her neck. Her ear, her thighs. Maybe he would get between her legs and use that smart mouth to—

"Inez?"

Inez flinched and found she had worked one hand under her shirt, moving the article of clothing halfway up her torso while the other had somehow moved to the front of her boxers.

Yes. Boxers. It's a free country and they're airy.

"Y-yeah?"

"Dinner's ready."

"Okay, cool. I'll, ah, I'll be down in a minute."

She was so screwed.


	5. Yep, Screwed

Levi gave a nod of approval to Jaeger as he handed back his report.

"Good job."

"Are you sure? It's only 6 pages…"

"There's no page requirement, and you say all you need to say and a little more. Your interpretation of Fitzgerald is impressive. And your execution of applying it to your views and beliefs is flawless. So," he slid the documents back to him, "good job."

Jaeger glowed under the praise.

"Trost University will eat it up. You are aware you need a letter of recommendation?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Who did you get to write it?"

"Well…"

Oh. He didn't know whether to be honored or annoyed.

"Fine. I'd be honored."

Well then.

Jaeger lit up like a Christmas tree. "Thank you, Mr. Levi!"

"Eren." Mikasa called for him from the doorway. "We'll keep Inez waiting."

Levi's eye brows shot up at the name. "What are you brats doing with Lovel's sister?"

"Oh, Mikasa's making me train with her, Annie and Inez." Levi didn't know or care who Annie was. "We go to the gym near the Legion Book Store. They kick my ass. Mikasa is really scary when she—"

"_Eren."_

"Coming. Thanks again for the letter, Mr. L!"

Getting home at 9:30 p.m. when you got up at 6 that morning and spending your day with a bunch of brats who write more like burned-out thirteen year olds than capable adults is not a fulfilling day on Levi's part.

He walked in dropped onto the couch, set on closing his eyes for a few seconds before finishing his—

_Ding dong._

He cracked his eyes open and grit his teeth. When the visitor didn't ring again or bother knocking his curiosity overcame him and he lumbered to the door. When he didn't see anything through his peep hole he opened to door and found a plate of food covered in plastic wrap on the floor.

He bent down and picked it up, eyeing the chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes before staring at Inez's door. He placed the plate on his hallway stand and walked over to his neighbor's, knocking on the door.

Inez opened the door slowly.

"Hey, Levi."

"What's with the food?"

She stared at the wall. "You probably didn't eat dinner. And we had leftovers."

She was nervous, unsure of herself. He knew why but didn't want to talk about it.

"If I'm bothering you, just tell me," Inez suddenly spat out.

Levi blinked. "Who said you were?"

"Maybe when you had your little freak out last week. When I had Eren and Mikasa over." Shit. So they had to talk about it. "If being around me is such a burden for you, then don't hang around and talk to me."

"Just—stop, Inez." Levi held up a hand and rubbed his face tiredly. "Stop saying that. You're not annoying or a 'burden'. I don't inconvenience myself with people like that. I realize that I'm not exactly Dr. Fucking Phil when it comes to talking about feelings and shit, but understand this," he tilted his head and made her meet his eyes, "Inez: I want to talk to you. I want be around you. I consider you a friend."

It made him feel like pansy to mutter such words, but seeing the shy smile on her face was well worth it. She bit her lip and rolled her eyes.

"Pansy."

_I'm so screwed, _he thought again when he found himself smiling.


	6. Kiss With a Fist

"Let's do this."

So said Inez as she bit down on her mouth guard. She and Mikasa bumped gloves and started circling each other, guards up and gazes locked.

The only attendance they had was Annie—a freshmen at the local college—and Eren, still rubbing his biceps after his warm-up match with the stoic blonde.

As usual, Mikasa made the first move, aiming a quick jab at her opponent's guard. Inez replied with a parry and a swipe at her left side; Mikasa weaved to her right and tried a front kick. Inez blocked and swung a hook, connecting with her shoulder.

"Point, Inez." Annie's bored voice announced.

"_Tch_," Inez shook her head and readjusted her mouth guard. "We skip one day and I catch you with a hook? Sloppy, Mimi. Very sloppy."

Mikasa only narrowed her eyes in response and got back to stance.

Their matches got more and more intense as the points racked up until they both decided to stop before one of them actually got hurt.

"Nice match," Mikasa offered her glove. Inez smacked it and exited the ring, smiling at Eren. "Okay, Jagermeister, your turn." Eren looked caught between scared and ecstatic.

"She's gonna hurt me," he whined, eyeing Mikasa's stretching form.

"Nah, I wore her out. Did you see all that Matrix-level dodging? She's all punched-out." Inez pulled off her head gear and shook out her hair. "Just watch for her crescent kick. It's lethal."

Eren grumbled and climbed into the ring. Inez stood over by Annie and stretched out her arms. "So any criticisms, Leonhart?"

Annie inspected a fingernail. "Your push kick was a little loose. And your overhand needs some work."

"Any positive criticisms?"

"Your hair looks pretty today."

"Wow. Thanks, coach."

Annie gave a silent smile and the two of them watched Mikasa and Eren in the ring.

"Who taught you before this?" Annie asked.

"Julius' twin brother, Rin. He's a trainer in Spain. A pretty famous one, actually."

"Hmm."

"Indeed."

Inez left that riveting conversation for her water bottle on the bench, ignoring the obvious leers from the buff guy standing in front of the mirror flexing his muscles.

"Nice moves, Bright Eyes."

Inez choked on her water and spun around to glare at Levi who had revealed himself from around the corner.

"What the hell, Levi!" She wiped the water dripping off her chin. "I'm going to put a fuckin' bell on you."

The once-over he gave her could have only lasted a second, but the feel of those steely eyes raking over her sweaty form left a burning sensation long after he stopped.

She jotted down the very important details that he was wearing knee length gym shorts and a Puma windbreaker slightly unzipped and showing the neckline of the grey shirt he had on underneath.

_Am I going to get to see him work out?_

"What are you doing here?"

"Taking violin lessons." He put his gym bag down and pulled off his jacket, standing in his sleeveless shirt.

_Oh, mama. _He was ripped. How could someone so short be so muscular? It started at his large hands and led up a pair of toned forearms, not stopping along his bulging biceps and taut shoulders. Her mouth practically watered at his collarbone and thick neck.

"Uh, so I guess that means you joined this gym?"

"You should be a detective."

"Ha, ha," Inez fake laughed and tore her eyes away from Levi's ass when he bent down and retrieved a pair of boxing gloves and a mouth guard.

"I came to check out the boxing talent I've been hearing so much about."

"What? Boxing talent? Eren's not really skilled at it, but Mikasa's pretty lethal with her left hook…" she trailed off as Levi gave her an incredulous stare.

"I was talking about you, Lovel."

"O-oh."

About a hundred questions flooded Inez's head, all of them embarrassing and/or awkward. _I'm the boxing talent? You came here for me? Who told you that? What else have you heard about me? Do you want to know more? Did he pay for a gym membership just to be with me? Does he like this tank? Did he stare at my chest I think he did I mean I checked out his ass so—_

"Inez!" Levi snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Y-yes sir!" She squeaked out, slapping her hands over her mouth when Levi raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, Levi?"

"…I was asking if you wanted to go a round with me."

Oh, how naughty that sounded to her poor ears.

"Sure! I mean, how—" she cleared her throat, hoping her mind would clear up as well. "How long as it been since you've been in the ring?"

"About ten years."

"Oh. We'll take it easy."

Levi smirked—_God damnit don't do that—_and started stretching out his arms. Near the ring Eren and Mikasa wore confused expressions.

"Mr. Levi?" Eren asked uncertainly, rubbing his thigh. "What are you doing here?"

"It's called exercise, brat. Even adults have lives outside the classroom." He pulled his heel to his lower back. He nodded at the brunette. "How are your ribs?"

"They're okay." He lifted up his shirt to show his bruises, now outlined in yellow and green splotches. "Apparently okay enough for Mikasa to kick at them."

Mikasa smiled and turned to Levi. "Sir, are you going to spar with us?"

"With Lovel. I'm afraid to lay a finger on either of you, being your teacher and all."

"You're not my teacher," Annie spoke up from the corner. Levi narrowed his eyes.

"Wasn't I at one point?"

"Yep."

"Leonhart? Annie Leonhart, right?"

"Yep. When Inez goes too soft on you, I'll step in."

Levi slipped on his gloves, watching Inez from the corner of his eye as she entered the ring. _Damn she looks good in those shorts. _"What makes you think she'll go easy on me?"

Annie tilted her chin down to where her bangs covered one eye and stared at him, brow arched high. "Gee, I have no idea." She nodded at the ring. "Looks like she's ready for you, sir."

Levi let out an unamused huff and joined Inez. She took a deep breath, helmet on. "You ready?"

He gave an unenergetic thumbs up and put on his own helmet, biting his mouth guard. She put in hers and offered her gloves; he stared at them until she rolled her eyes and shook them. He fist bumped them and she shook her head, shrugging and getting into stance.

She put her left foot forward, right foot back and sticking out at an angle. Her hands were up in a guard, right one lower and out a bit to the side. He copied her almost exactly, save for keeping his shoulders down and fists at chest level.

She moved to the left, feet moving in an almost cat-like style as she circled. He moved to his left, eyes never leaving her face. She was checking out how he moved; her eyes were calculating, steady, and glued to his body. Maybe she was checking him out—

Her left fist shot out and tapped the pad of his helmet with enough force to knock him off balance. He ducked and made to regain his equilibrium; she was on one foot, right knee up and shin flying at his open side.

He barely managed to block it with his forearms, marveling at the impact her strike left. He had just straightened up and regained his stance when her cross closed in on his guard. It was so strong he had to take a step back and finally made his first move, opting for a left hook.

It glanced off her guard as she slid past his hook, dropping into a floor sweep. It followed through and he fell to the floor, sitting half way up before he realized she was standing over him, guard up and foot on his chest.

_That _he found extremely hot.

"Wow," he breathed out. Their match only could have lasted about a minute, but his chest was rising and sweat was beading his forehead.

"You're a little rusty," she grinned, taking off her glove and offering her hand. He raised his arm towards her and she gripped his wrist, helping him up.

"A little?" Eren exclaimed from the sidelines, "You knocked him out in 30 seconds flat!"

Levi shot him a look that made the boy wither like a plant under the desert sun. He cracked his neck and lifted his hands with newfound energy. "Again," he got out around his mouthpiece.

Her grin reduced itself to a nervous line when she took up her stance.

This time Levi was prepared for her lightning-quick assaults; he regained the feel of bobbing and weaving, using his short stature to his advantage and swiping at her legs to distract her from her bullet-like kicks.

What Levi lacked in speed he made up for in complete control of every muscle, using them to make large, powerful blows at her guard. He held, back of course; just as Inez made her kicks simply for contact, he made his swings for diversion so he could get in close and tap a shoulder, hip or thigh.

They stopped after their eighth match, thirty or so minutes after they had started. Levi was the most sweaty he'd been in any home workout in a while. His muscles were sore and felt stretched beyond what was natural for a human. Judging by how Inez was slouched against the wall while sitting on the bench she most likely felt the same.

"That was intense," Eren commented, handing each of them a towel. Levi nodded, Inez laughed.

"That was fun," she grinned, giving Levi an inquisitive brow raise.

He smirked. Maybe he had his ass handed to him on a silver platter in the ring, but he could still make Inez turn red with a simple look.

"Well, I think I'm done for the day." Levi pulled back on his jacket and zipped up his bag. "I need to go home and bathe."

"Eren, where are Mikasa and Annie?" Inez asked, taking gulps of water.

"About fifteen minutes ago they hit the track. I think now they're playing basketball."

"And you decided to stay and watch us instead of joining them?"

Eren turned bashful. "Well, you guys were really awesome. I wanted to watch." He gave her a look and stood up, acquiring a partial fighter's stance. "How did you do this kick?" He brought his right foot forward and rotated it to the left side, bringing his knee up and snapping it up and over in an arc, mimicking an unsteady replicate of an axe kick.

"You should have Annie show you how to do it. She's the pro here."

Eren blanched. "She's scary."

"I know."

"Bye," Levi announced before walking out the doors.

"Levi! Uh, see you, Eren." She gathered her stuff and pulled her hoodie over her head, running out the doors. "Tell Mimi and Ann I said bye!"

She burst out the doors and looked around the sidewalks for Levi, trying to spot him through the groups of people—

"You look ridiculous."

She frowned, annoyed. "How was I supposed to know you were waiting by the door like a creeper?"

She started walking towards the apartments, fixing her sweatshirt and tucking loose pieces of hair back in pace. She refused to look at him as he strode easily beside her, matching her footsteps.

"I'm going to be sore for a week." He stated.

"Old man," she scoffed, dodging a child not paying attention to where it was going. Levi scowled but failed to fight her on it, opting to walk beside her in silence.

They continued like that for a few minutes until they rounded a corner and Inez let out a surprised noise, pausing beside a tree and squinting at a restaurant across the street. Levi joined her and spotted none other than her brother sitting near the window, seated across from a curvy blonde.

"Oh, it's _her_," Inez rolled her eyes and started towards the apartment again.

"You know her?"

"Unfortunately. He brought her to the apartment a few nights ago. I had to leave the house at 1 a.m. and spend an hour at the coffee shop down the street because they were being so damn loud."

"Is that a reason to dislike her?"

Inez pressed her lips together. "I guess not. I'm just a little protective of my brother, I suppose. Also, I wanted to go to that restaurant but when I went in it turned out to be a hot date spot. I was surrounded by lovey-dovey couples. It was horrifying."

"You poor thing."

"Shut up." She sighed and cast a longing gaze back at the bistro. "I read online that they had the best lasagna Florentine in the city. Also, great selection in wines."

"You drink wine?"

"Eh, some." She scrolled through her phone as she walked. "Julius makes me try different wines with what he makes. My favorite so far is dry white wine. Red is just nasty. And I only ever drink it with food. To be honest I'd rather down a beer right out the freezer."

Levi made a disgusted face. "Beer is what's disgusting."

"Wine person?"

"I suppose so." _I down an entire bottle of merlot thinking of you. _"What do you drink at bars?"

"Scotch with a twist of lime. If I'm in a really fancy mood a white Russian or a corkscrew."

"You are a piece of work."

"Well what do _you _drink when you're out?"

"Wine. Cocktails."

"Ooh, so refined. Do you have a manservant that carries your bags and lights your pipe?"

"No, I had to let him go."

She laughed and they continued on until they reached their respected apartments.

"Inez," Levi called before she opened the door. "If you need to evacuate your apartment again…don't hesitate to come over."

Her eyes widened and an unsure smile tugged at her lips. "Really? Are you sure, because I'll take you up on it."

Levi met her gaze and held it there making sure she was paying close attention when he returned her smile. "Please do. Anytime."

He drank in the blush that spread from her cheeks to her ears. "O-okay! I mean, uh, thanks, Levi," she grinned and disappeared into her apartment.

As he lay in bed later that night, he cursed himself for not having the camera on his phone ready to capture a picture of her blush. He recalled the flush on her chest as he sparred with her, watching her abs contract and expand as she twisted and bobbed away from his swipes, the way she pressed her lips together in a tight line as she concentrated, mapping out her next move.

The bright lights of the gym made her olive toned skin glisten, and he couldn't deny his enjoyment at the sight of her supple, toned thighs and chest bound in a restraining sports bra.

He wondered how she looked without that bothersome bra on. What color were her nipples, and how would they feel against his tongue? Was she into biting? What about dirty talk?

A vision of a sweaty, nude Inez writhing on his bed, hair loose and splayed around her face, cheeks red, lips plump and wet with his essence, those eyes glazed over with lust and voice breaking as she asked him for _more, _begged him for _more_.

"Shit," Levi muttered, boxers suddenly too tight. He dipped his fingers under his waistband and gripped his length, already half-hard and hot. He shivered as he gripped his base and worked his hand up to the tip, imaging Inez under the covers with him.

He made his touches flighty and teasing—a style that usually just pissed him off—but felt himself arch into the touch when he saw Inez's long fingers on his dick, face dangerously close to his crotch, eyes looking up at him deviously.

He hissed out a breathy moan and worked his underwear further down his hips in order to thrust up as he fisted himself, squeezing his already leaking head as he saw her above him, tongue trailing up his dick and then taking him whole, making lewd slurping noises as she bobbed her head.

He'd run his fingers through that hair and bring her down on him, watching his dick disappear past those pretty lips and feeling her moans.

Maybe he could convince her to ride him so he could watch her fuck him into the mattress.

"_Nnngh," _he bit out, imagining squeezing her breasts and rubbing a thumb against her clit, watching her fall apart as she rutted against him, whimpering his name.

"_Ha, Inez," _he was close, so close. His toes curled as he made his pace fast and wild, arms burning as he finished, his room melting away and only the image of fucking Inez against a wall burned into his mind.

Shocks of pleasure made his spine curl and he bit his tongue, even in private refusing to make more sound than was necessary.

He lay still, panting, resting one wrist against his forehead as he came down. He cursed, getting out of bed to switch the sheets and putting on a new pair of boxers, falling asleep after imagining a certain someone's warm body tangled with his.


	7. One Sweet, One Sour

Inez cracked her knuckles above her head and tried to decide which energy drink she wanted to indulge on, settling on Rockstar because, hey, pretty packaging was pretty. And monster was a little _too _intense.

She cracked the tab open and started walking back to Luke's office—he had seemed too excited at the prospect of having her spend time after office in his chair—when she heard a thunk of something being dropped and a quiet curse.

She followed the noise to an office filled with filing cabinets and one computer. On the ground was a bent over figure stooped over a messy pile of files. His sleeves were rolled up to slender elbows and blonde hair held back with a simple white hairband.

Inez raised an eyebrow. "Armin?"

The blonde head snapped up and blue eyes widened. "Oh, Miss Lovel! H-hello…"

"What are you doing here? It's almost 1 in the morning."

"Just, ah sorting through a few things…" He resumed picking up the papers and Inez stooped down to help him. She looked through a few of them.

"Company records of transactions with Phoenix Corps? Future perspectives, projections…Armin, what exactly are you putting together?"

"Ah, well, Mr. Jinn was asking for a summary of past activity with Phoenix and I guess I went a little overboard."

"Nah, it's good to see some work ethic around here. Do you have any idea how many times I've had to finish Luke's reports? Christ." She handed him the stack of papers and tapped her head. "By the way, what's with the headband?"

Armin flushed and his hands flew to his hair, messily grabbing at the accessory and tearing it off, his hair coming down and framing his face. She laughed and took it from his hand.

"No, no, it looks good on you." She pushed his bangs back and slid the band back in place. "But why are you collecting hard copies? Wouldn't it be better to track it down in the system?"

Armin scratched his head. "Well, yeah, but I don't know how to do it."

"Oh," Inez nodded and sat down at the chair. "Well, let me show you. It'll save you another hour of work. C'mere."

It only took about ten minutes to show Armin how to work the tracking database and he was off, eyes glued to the screen and fingers flying over the keyboard.

"Thank you Miss Lovel!"

"Just call me Inez, kid." She started to leave, but paused at the door. "Armin, when are you leaving?"

He broke his trance and looked at her. "Um, I don't know…maybe in a half an hour or so?"

"When you're done just come up to the fifth floor and let me know. I'll give you a ride home."

"You really don't have to…"

"But I really want to, so just come find me, okay?"

Armin nodded bashfully and she left.

Later he came and found her curled in a swivel chair watching Breaking Bad on a monitor. She grabbed her bag and walked him out to the parking lot, handing him a helmet. His baby blues absolutely _goggled _as they approached her silver sports bike.

"We're going on _that _thing?"

"Yep." She strapped on her bag and straddled the bike, starting it up with a roar. "Put on the helmet, Arlert."

He obeyed and awkwardly climbed on, refusing to grab on to her sides until she started moving. At one point he actually relaxed his death grip and let his eyes watch the scenery fly by. Inez let him direct her through the streets until she stopped in front of a cluster of houses near the outskirts of the city.

"Thanks, Inez."

"No problem. Give me you phone." He raised his brow and handed it over. "You ever need a ride, just text me.

"Okay, thanks, Inez," Armin smiled. She grinned back.

"See ya," she said, speeding home.

"Eren, you're killing me."

"Shut up, I can do it!"

"Sure you can. Just think positive."

They were on the upper floor of the gym, near the track and its runners. Inez was stretching out her quads, eyeing the boy on the mat in front of her. He had his legs spread out as much as he could, pelvic center only a few inches off the ground.

"What would Mikasa say if she could see you now?"

"She'd call me an idiot."

"Well, at least you know."

Inez breathed out and got into warrior pose, watching the clouds through the window. She was knocked out of the zone by a tug on her pants. She looked down and laughed at Eren's helpless face, a drop of sweat running from his temple down his face as his legs quivered under the strain of the attempted splits.

"Would you like some help?"

"Yes, please."

She offered her arm and helped him up, watching as he rubbed his thighs painfully.

"You're really close," she supplied encouragingly.

"Whatever. I'll get there."

She smiled and continued her routine, breathing in and out and trying to focus. It was hard when she felt Eren watching her and sighed.

"What is it, Eren?"

He jumped and shrugged his shoulders loosely. "I was just wondering…"

"What?"

Eren wringed his fingers uselessly and kept his gaze down. "What…are you doing for Christmas?"

She blinked and leaned against the wall. "Well, a few days before Christmas Julius and I are flying back to Spain. I was planning on coming back Christmas Eve. Why?"

"Oh, um. Nothing. Just wondering."

A silence passed by. "What are _you _doing on Christmas?"

Eren shrugged. "I'm gonna run a few laps."

He took off and Inez huffed, running after him.

"Eren, what are you doing on Christmas?"

He shot her an angry frown. "Don't worry about it!"

"You're such a brat!"

"Whatever!"

Eren picked up his pace and started pulling ahead. Inez growled and kicked up her heels, arms pumping and feet hitting hard against the ground. She effectively caught up with him and cut him off, herding him into the abandoned yoga area.

"Eren."

"Inez, what the fuck!"

She planted her arm against the wall and glared. "What are you doing for Christmas? You're spending it with you sister and parents, right?"

His attitude turned somber. "No. Our dad's been missing for the past few months." Oh. "And our mom died of cancer ten years ago." Ah. Well. Good job, Inez.

"What about grandparents? Aunts and uncles?"

"Both sets of our grandparents have passed away. And my parents were only children."

"Who the hell is paying for your food and utilities and shit?"

"Our house is paid off, and we found a huge wad of money under the pillows the day he disappeared that's been getting us by."

"Wait," she held up her hands and took a step forward. "So, your dad's legitimately missing? How are you not in the lap of some child protection agent right now?"

"Well…Mikasa and I didn't really report it."

Her eye twitched. "What?"

"After mom died we got use to him not being around for us anyway, so this isn't really new…"

"What exactly do you plan on doing when that cash runs out?"

"Mikasa and I have jobs," he shot back defiantly. "And she'll be eighteen in a few months, so we'll be able to get to our dad's savings and mom's insurance payments."

"This is…this is crazy. So you and Mikasa are just hanging out alone at your house with a missing family member? Why the hell wouldn't you report it?"

"Because then they'd take me or Mikasa and separate us!" Eren was suddenly shouting, drawing looks form those on the other side of the gym. She glared when they started watching.

"They did it once when we were twelve and Dad went on a bender, leaving us alone for a week. A neighbor ratted us out and I was sent to this fucking home for a couple days away from Mikasa until my dad came back and reclaimed us. It was awful, and Mikasa was so scared of being alone she couldn't sleep for a week and we're not fucking doing that again!"

He violently wiped at the tears welling up in his eyes and curled his lip, muttering to himself. Inez watched him, conflicting emotions twisting her stomach into knots. Eventually she reached out and patted his head, fixing him with a steady, understanding look.

"…on Christmas Eve, when I get back from Spain, you and Mikasa are coming over and spending the night with me. Got it?" She pushed back her confliction and added, "Fuck that, you're staying with me till New Year's. Or whenever you guys want. Cool?"

Eren's face brightened and he gave a smile. Inez returned the smile and pushed down harder on his head until he was eye-level with her. "Invite Armin, too. That little blondie's fun to mess with."

Eren rolled his eyes and started off on the track again, Inez chasing after.


	8. Online

[Plague is online]

[TonboTommyLee is online]

[KingOf_ Spades is online]

[luciie is online]

Kingof_Spades: what do you mean you cant find the wormhole.

Its literally the best means for accessing the port through a secure connection

luciie: srsly. Just install a demon and let the idiot start it up on his own.

Plague: fuck all of you I don't use wormholes I go old school.

besides im just waiting for Tigris

who is LATE

[Tigris is online]

Plague: finally what's wrong Ti you break your system again?

TonboTommyLee: long time no see sweetheart how you doin

Tigris: plague, chill. I'm two minutes late

and Tonbo u know I don't like Polish sausage

TonboTommyLee: its too spicy for you, isn't it?

Tigris: honey, I'm a Spaniard. I like spicy meat, not that lean shit

luciie: oooooooh ^^^^

KingOf_Spades: I don't think she's interested, as usual

Plague: god everybody shut up Tigris you got my money? I got that info you wanted on Grisha Jaeger

Tigris: GODDAMNIT SHUT UP PLAGUE Christ what part of on the DL did you not comprehend

how many bits you got

Plague: 53

23 hrs total

Tigris: I'll EXCH 611.06zł

Plague: …

Tigris: dude, its Christmas over here, im broke

I bet it only took you a little over 6 cycles

KingOf_Spades: plague, man, shes good to you

luciie: don't be a frog

Plague: FINE. But the next time you want a line to the Swedish Embassy, find some1 else

to be your PTY

Tigris: Thank you, honeybunches. The same server as last time?

Plague: yep

[Plague has disconnected]

luciie: what a pain

TonboTommyLee: yo Ti u wanna Skype?

Tigris: go take a cold shower, Lee. Ive got a man

[Tigris has disconnected]

KingOf_Spades: Tonbo, u r never getting laid


	9. Deadhead

Levi was relaxing after a nice bout of cleaning, sitting on his couch and reading his most recent book purchase while enjoying the smell of cleaner and detergent waft through the apartment. He was about to take another sip of tea when an animalistic scream cut through the silence.

Levi was up in a second and sprinting to the door, throwing it open and watching the Lovels' door.

The scream sounded again and Levi wasted no time busting through the (thankfully unlocked) door, skidding to a halt on the smooth wooden floor, ready to fight—

"Fuck the Governor! Fuck him fuck him fuck him with a broom stick!"

Inez stood in front of the TV as the credits for the Walking Dead scrolled up the screen, making unintelligible noises as she paced in her living room, hair waving wildly around her face.

"Inez."

It was more of a statement. He flicked his eyes down to her legs, bare and sticking out from track shorts. He was drawn to the inner side of her muscular thighs.

He made sure to reposition his gaze when she turned around and gave him a surprised look.

"Levi? What the hell?"

"I came because I heard screaming." He motioned with a nod to the TV where the menu on her laptop was showing. "Favorite show of yours?"

"The Walking Dead? Hell yeah! You've seen it, right?"

He shook his head. Her mouth effectively fell open.

"No way. You're shitting me. Out of the four seasons, you haven't seen one episode?"

"Nope."

Inez gave a strange smile and shook her head. "Oh, Levi. How will you ever relate to your students if you don't know the latest zombie obsessions out there?"

Levi mockingly clasped on hand over his heart and swooned. "Guess I'll just have to change careers. Go into modeling, get my ass in some Calvin Klein underwear catalogues."

He was unprepared for the blush that bit her ears as she gave him an unfocused stare and then turned her face away, laughing nervously. He had to bite back a smug grin.

"What are you trying to picture it? Hang on, I can just go change into my own pair at home and strut for you."

_Oh wow. _He didn't know an entire face could go that red that quickly. He was suddenly very tempted to strip down to nothing and see what expressions Inez made then.

"Ha, right. That'd be a show," she bantered shakily, sitting back on her couch and eyes glued to the computer screen.

Levi wanted to grab her face and turn it up to him, forcing her to meet his eyes. He wanted to run his thumb over her lips, feel her tremor and watch those luminous eyes squeeze shut. He'd make her stick out her tongue and—

"…nna watch it with me?"

"Huh?"

He came out of his daydream to see Inez had fought down the blush and was watching him with a strange glint in her grin.

"I said, you want to watch the Walking Dead with me? I have all the episodes. I can get you addicted."

_I'm already addicted. _"Sure."

A strange tension filled the air. "Why don't we watch it at your place?"

"Why?" A voice in the primal part of his brain told him to _shut up and let the pretty woman in shorts come sit on your couch for a few hours _and he ignored it.

"Well, Julius likes to do his work in the living room. Unless you wanted to watch it on my laptop in my room?"

_Yes. On your bed, sitting thigh to thigh so I can smell your hair. _Oh God he was a perverted old man. "Fair point. Let's go."

As before when she was drunk, Inez studied every wall and corner like it was the most interesting exhibit in the world. She quickly hooked up her computer and he caught a glance of her desktop, a foreign air brush painting of a dove with silver and blue wings. Everywhere were files with strange names made up of numbers and weird names of mythical creatures.

He wanted to ask about them but refrained, watching as the title rolled around.

She was nearly vibrating with excitement. "Okay, let's go."

"You're getting a little too hyped up over this."

"You will understand eventually."

"O joy."

Almost five hours later Inez finally managed to take back her computer, against Levi's objections.

"Levi, we can do this tomorrow."

"But what about—"

"You'll see!"

"Just leave the laptop here!"

Inez laughed, and Levi wished he could bottle the sound. "I can send you the episode if you want. I'll get your email from Julius."

Levi breathed out. "Okay. Do that." She grinned and Levi stopped her before she got out the door. "Inez."

"Yeah?"

He leaned up against the wall. "Why did you sit through 5 episodes of that? You've seen them already, right?"

She seemed caught off guard and shuffled her feet. "Well, yeah. But it was fun watching them with you. You get really pissed at cliffhangers."

He huffed and pursued his lips. Inez laughed into her hand.

"You're so cute," she said absentmindedly. As he locked eyes with her she froze at what she just said, face going pale. "Uh, I mean…sorry? Not cute, just, you're so handsome and then you go and pull a pouty face…and…I'm sorry." She made to leave the apartment, but Levi stopped her by placing his hand against the door.

"That's the third time."

Her pupils were blown. A spark was starting to build up between them. "Third time what?"

He leaned forward, catching her scent. "Third time you've called me cute. I wouldn't mind it…" He got closer, hearing her breath hitch. "If you would let me call you cute back."

What the hell. He was already semi-hard and they weren't even touching. He let out a breath ad her lashes fluttered.

"Levi?" Her voice was like syrup and dripped down his ears to his spine, making him shiver.

"Yeah."

"Did watching the Walking Dead give you a hard on?"

His eyes opened to comical proportions and he stared at her incredulously. He couldn't stop the smile before it was plastered on, and he ducked his head to muffle his laughter.

Inez stared, entranced, as Levi held his hand over his mouth and held his side. He calmed down and replaced the fleeting smile with his usual stone mask.

He registered a pair of soft lips against his.

Inez threaded her fingers through his undercut and pulled him closer, a timid tongue licking at his lips. He was abruptly pushed away and Inez fixed him with a deer-in-the-headlights stare, embarrassment lining her features.

"I'm—I'm so—" She looked on the verge of crying. Before he could move she fled his apartment, slamming her door behind her.

Levi stood against the wall, staring at the white paint, taunting him with the image of Inez leaning against it, breathless and shaking away from him.

He slowly closed the door and sighed, bringing out his phone and dialing _him. _

After a few rings he picked up. "Levi?"

"Hey Erwin. I need a favor."

"Well hello to you too."


	10. Dinner Party?

The hours following the Walking Dead viewing with Levi went slowly. Inez went through the motions of her yoga, her dinner and worked on her update of the antivirus without her usual contemplative enthusiasm.

She didn't know what inspired her to practically pin the short man against a wall and force her mouth onto his. She just knew that when she went back to the image of Levi smiling, her stomach fluttered and her palms got sweaty. He had looked ten years younger, his eyes squeezing close and the most adorable dimples showing on the hollows of his cheeks.

He probably thought she was some love-struck teenager with no control over her body. Which in many ways, she was.

He past relationships hadn't lasted long for one fact: she wanted _it_ all the time. _All the time. _It didn't have to be full-blown sex; just enough to push her over the edge. At first, the guys and one girl she had dated found it liberating, fun, and sexy—all that jazz. But as the months went on they grew less eager, not being able to keep up with her drive and frankly becoming annoyed at her constant passes and flirting.

Kissing Levi—while potentially the best kiss she had ever had—was a huge mistake. Levi struck her as the kind that valued his down time, away from others and immersed in his own thoughts. She probably scared him off, she probably blew the chance of ever dating him.

She frowned. Dating Levi? When had that thought entered her mind? Levi had been sending her signals, right? Inviting her over, striking up conversation when there was none, giving her a bed when she was drunk and locked out.

Or maybe it was because he worked with her brother, or he was just being a good neighbor and she totally misread everything because _oh god _he's attractive—

She jumped when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and gulped when she saw the name displayed on the screen.

"Hello, Mr. Smith?"

"Evening, Inez."

Speaking of attractive, there was this Captain America-motherfucker with thick arms and a broad chest and an ass that looked great in slacks. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she kept imagining what Levi would look like in his suits and ties.

"Good evening, sir."

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm calling you."

"Well, yeah. Not that I hate talking to you, sir."

He laughed. She found that she entertained him when she reverted back to her bratty language from the old days of teenage rioting.

"I was wondering if you would accompany my wife and I to a dinner party a partner is hosting."

"Me, sir? I'm not exactly good at talking business."

"I know, and that's why I'm asking. He's a pretty informal partner, really. Inez, I see real potential in your abilities with this company. You could be much more than just an I.T. and program designer."

"Oh, well, th-thank you, Mr. Smith."

"Don't thank me yet. Just come to this dinner and learn the basics of small talk and the business tango."

"I'm honored, sir. I will attend. Do I need a date?"

"It is considered to be in good standing to have one, but if you really can't get one it's not the end of the world. I'm sure that Gunther or Erd would be more than happy to attend with you."

"Yes sir."

"I will send you an email with the location and time attached. See you then, Miss Lovel."

"Goodbye, sir. Thank you."

Her head spun when she hung up, treading to the kitchen for a midnight snack. She'd have to buy a dress, probably shoes, too; she didn't have any formal wear save for the few articles labeled 'business-casual' she wore to meetings and interviews.

Not that she didn't have the money. Her job paid okay—it was the bonuses that Erwin issued the payroll department that gave her more than enough to live by—she even had a savings account that kept growing every month.

It was the date part that made her squirm.

She could ask Erd, or Gunther, or even Luke (though, she knew he had a thing for her, so that was probably a bad idea) to go with her.

But who she really wanted to bring was…

"Agh," she gurgled in her throat, rubbing at her face before pulling out a tub of yogurt and some blueberries, mixing them into a bowl. While she ate, Inez went to her work email and scrolled down to the one labeled **Smith, Erwin. **

**Tomorrow night. Dinner at Sina Ballroom, hosted by Mike Zacharius. Arrive at 8, we eat at 9. Black tie event, dress accordingly.**

Almost instantly her fingers flew to the keys, searching her engine for 'Mike Zacharius'. Several results popped up and she opened the four most promising ones.

He was in the top ten of his graduating class, majoring in business. He started at a small legal firm and made it grow exponentially after he was promoted to head attorney. It was now third in the nation. He had spread his finances in several stocks, including Recon Industries.

She dug deeper and found that he and Erwin were long-time acquaintances, possibly even friends judging from their unscheduled meetings.

She cracked her knuckles and decided to be a little naughty, starting up Krawl—the system she used for tracking IP addresses—and gained access to Smith's system. She knew that Erwin wasn't the sharpest when it came to monitoring his account, and even if he did somehow figure out she was rooting through his computer all he'd do is maybe give her a stern talking-to and demand to know what she was doing on it.

She gained access to his email and searched for everything from Zacharius or his firm, waiting for one with an attached file. It was much easier to gain entrance when they did that.

After about twenty minutes she was in Zacharius' system, surfing though his accounts and portfolio. She raised her eyebrow at the amount of stock he had put in a company called 'Phoenix' and looked it up, finding it to be a newly emerged medical practice that partnered with Recon, providing health industries with resources and access to drugs.

On his portfolio he had bookmarked several companies dealing with cyber ware and protection, almost as if he were waiting for them to—

_Knock, knock._

She looked up from her place on the counter and jumped off, not bothering to look through the peephole and found herself face to face with a bored looking Levi, hands in the pocket of his jeans and grey sweatshirt hanging low, exposing his collarbone.

Cue the blush.

"Levi?" Her hand floated above the handle, itching to slam the door shut to escape that steel glare. "What's up?"

He gave her a look that said 'are you kidding me' and scratched his head. "You said whenever I was hungry I could come over. I'm hungry. I'm here."

Inez bit her lip and moved to the side, closing the door behind him and refusing to look at him as she opened the refrigerator and scanned over the contents inside. Levi sat on a stool at the counter.

"We've got some roast beef left over…there's also paella, spaghetti…"

"What the hell is pie-yo?"

She glanced at him. "Paella? It's awesome. It's a mix of chicken, white beans and green peppers with some weird lemon sauce shit that Julius came up with."

"Sounds exotic. I'll take it."

"Exotic my ass," she muttered under her breath as she spooned a helping onto a plate and put it in the microwave.

"What was that?" Levi quipped.

"Nothing."

"Mmhm." Levi's eyes got big. "What are you doing on here?"

She forgot her laptop was open and rushed to turn it away from his glare. "Nothing."

"Really." The microwave beeped and she hurriedly got the plate in front of him, handing him a spoon and being much too aware of their fingers brushing. She returned his stare and turned her screen away from him.

"Really."

He shrugged and started eating the food as she got back to her research, reading more about Phoenix and emerging cyberware companies.

"This is pretty good," Levi commented after a few minutes of silence. Inez hummed and tried to hide her face behind her screen, fingers typing away.

_He's acting like nothing happened. Maybe he's trying to forget about my tongue on his mouth? Is he forgiving me? Should I bring it up? No, that would just be too awkward. _

Levi finished eating and wiped his mouth. "So about earlier."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. Sweat beaded on her neck. "Earlier?"

Levi started tapping his fingers impatiently and a new wrinkle formed above the bridge of his nose. "Earlier. When you kissed me."

"Yeah, about that. I'm sorry. I really didn't plan on doing that I swear it just kind of happened." When he said nothing she kept going. "Believe it or not I don't usually make out with guys I've only known for a month. I think I just misread you being a good neighbor and all and it's been a while since I've been out with anyone so I'm a little rusty with picking up signs and…" she ran out of breath and stopped, raising her eyes tentatively.

Levi wore a soft expression and played with his spoon. "You're saying you're sorry you did it?"

"Y-yeah."

Something flashed in his eyes. "What if I'm not?"

A bump rose in her throat and she suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. "What does that mean?"

Levi acquired an almost _playful _attitude as he leaned forward, chin on his hands and head titled to the side, grey eyes shining. "It means a couple things. One: I didn't mind your kiss." _Throb. _Her heart beat against her rib cage with a renewed fervor.

"Two: I don't want you to start avoiding me again because of it. And three," he stood up, pressing his abdomen against the counter as he leaned forward and threaded cool fingers through the hair on the back of her head and bringing their faces close together, "I would love to kiss you again."

He seemed to wait for confirmation as Inez attempted to get here pulse under control. She was unaware of the jolt it sent through Levi when she licked her lips nervously.

"So…you wouldn't be opposed if I pinned you against a wall again?"

He let out a loud breath. "What is it with you and walls?"

"Not really walls. Just you in general. Especially underneath me."

Now his heart rate picked up a bit.

"Under, huh?" He slipped an arm around her hips and earned a squeak when he lifted her up and onto the counter as she kneeled on her knees. She could've moaned at the view of Levi standing in front of her, one hand on her hip and one on her neck, pulling her down. "Like this?"

She bit her lip and nodded, clasping her hands on his shoulders and pressing against the muscles she found there. He tilted his head back and gave her a smoldering smirk. "You're acting shy, Inez."

"I can't help it." He stifled a groan as she ran her hands from his shoulders to his chest, tracing the curvature of his abs over the shirt he wore. "I get nervous around you."

He dragged his lips on her jawline. "Why is that?"

"Hell if I know." She suddenly sat back on her heels and looked him in the eye. "I really like you, Levi," she said softly so he had to strain her ears.

Never one for words, Levi tugged on her neck one more time and brought their lips together, parting his lips a bit and angling his mouth to fit hers. Her hands mussed his hair and she slithered off the counter, pressing her form against his as he locked his arm around her waist before moving them to her sides, fingers teasing her ribs and making her break away and giggle.

"Don't, I'm ticklish."

He rolled his eyes and kissed her again as she herded him to the couch. He was only half expecting the shove that sent him onto his back on the cushions.

"Rude," he was going to say more but was caught off guard by the sight of Inez pulling off her shirt, left in just a thin tank top barely concealing her nipples and showing flashes of taut skin underneath. He felt his mouth go dry as she hovered over him, a knee between his and arms on either side of his head.

"You look so good like this," Levi said, eyes raking down her form and appreciating the shiver he earned. He skimmed his fingers over her abs and she hummed as she kissed him again.

The kiss got increasingly heavy as Levi decided to up the intensity, nipping at her lower lip and licking at the bruised flesh. She groaned and opened her mouth, licking at his tongue and twisting around in his mouth, drinking him in.

He moved his hands to her lower back, pressing her against him and grinding into the heat he found there. He hissed when she tugged at his hair. Inez broke away and smoothed his hair apologetically.

"S-sorry," she got out, breathing erratic and golden-green eyes cloudy as she looked at him, an animalistic glint in those orbs.

"No, I like it," he assured her, slipping his hand under her tank and grabbing at what he found there, rubbing his palms against her center.

"Your hands are rough," she panted, peppering his neck with kisses. She whispered, "I like it," and bit into his ear, licking the abused crest after and drawing a muffled groan out of Levi, mentally patting herself on the back for the accomplishment.

"Tease," he bit out, scraping his nails down her back and sides and cupping her ass.

"_Ooh, _am I making you mad?" She floated down to his collarbone and licked at the protruding ridge, nibbling and sucking while running her hands over his torso. She sat up again, licking her lips. "Can I lift your shirt?" She asked.

He nonchalantly took his hands off her ass and lifted them over her head, resting them on the cushions above him with an expectant line on his face.

She narrowed her eyes and tugged the offending clothing up and off, marveling at his _alabaster_ skin and sculpted abs she found there, along with numerous little scars and nicks.

Her mouth watered and she dipped her head, licking a line from his navel to his chest. She pressed her hips down and made small circles against him, feeling him stiffen underneath her. Keeping eye contact with him, she traced his abs with hot kisses and nips, and gave a theatrical tongue flick at the end. His eyes followed every move, yet that self-assured, unaffected smirk was still frozen on.

Inez growled and press a line of teeth into the skin under his ribs, sucking hard and swiping her tongue over the mark.

"You don't seem to be enjoying this," she noted, outlining his muscles with her fingers.

He frowned and gave a quick thrust up, making her flinch and gasp. "Really? I'm not enjoying it?"

He sat up and ran his hands up her back, kneading at her hot flesh and sucking possessively at her neck. Inez whimpered and curved her spine up against him.

"_Nnn." _

The jingle of a key sliding into the lock at the front door cut through the air and they froze mid-action.

"Fuck!" Inez spat out as she rolled off him, simultaneously throwing him his shirt and skidding at her sweatshirt, haphazardly pulling it over her head just as Julius came in. Levi also started putting his shirt back on, heart rate still running high as he waited for what was sure to be an awkward conversation.

"Julius," Inez struggled to smooth down her hair, rearranging her clothes. Her brother's slightly amused face turned confused when he noticed his co-worker sitting on his couch, hair and mussed clothes in a similar state.

Julius shut the door and put his bags on the counter.

"Hey Inez. Levi. What are you two doing?"

"Sparring."

"Watching TV."

Julius watched them with a suspicious air that turned almost incredulous at their synchronized answers. "R_ight_. Levi, did you want to stay for some lasagna?"

"No, thank you." Well, yes, he did, but not after her brother practically got a front row seat at their little performance. "It's almost past my bedtime, anyway."

He tried to shrug off the heat from Inez's eyes as he walked to the door. He dipped his head. "…Night, Inez."

She bit her lip. "Good night."

_Hnng. _The way her voice turned so sweet at those two words made him want turn uncharacteristically romantic and bury his face into her neck. Instead he tried to make a single look convey his thoughts and left, nodding at Julius and ignoring his knowing look.

When he got back to his apartment, he deemed sleep unattainable at this point and logged on to his computer, opening his folder and cracking his neck, intending to get some work done.

He ultimately failed, thoughts of _what does this make us? _and _how far would we have gone? _aligning with _how do I hint that I want to be her date for that stupid dinner party? _

An hour into inner turmoil and he was knocked out of it by a nagging at the door. He nearly jumped off the desk chair and fought to control himself from sprinting to the door, hoping it was—

"Hey," Inez breathed out, laptop case on one shoulder and other hand in her pocket.

"Howdy," he deadpanned, moving to the side to let her in. "What are you doing here?"

She worried her lip with her teeth and got comfy on his couch, fiddling with the strings on her hood. "I wanted to ask you something."

Levi closed his door and went to the kitchen, pouring a glass of water. "Shoot."

"Do you absolutely hate business dinner parties?"

_Here we go. _"I wouldn't say _hate. _They're shitty, yeah, but not hate."

"Well, Erwin Smith called me earlier and basically talked me into going to one for Mike Zacharius." She waited for a response. He took a sip and watched her like a cat swatting at a toy. "So?"

"_So, _I need a date. And you and Erwin are friends, so…" He remained silent. "So will you be my date? It's a black tie event so you'll have to wear a suit and I'll have to wear heels and that's never gone over well plus I'll have to 'talk business' which I never have before so I'm nervous about that and it would help if I had someone there that I actually liked."

The corners of Levi's mouth twitched and he took a sip to hide it.

"I am honored, as the formal asshats say."

She let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

She opened her laptop and started reading where she left off before Levi had come over they had gotten…carried away. She flinched as he sat down heavily next to her, turning on the TV.

They sat like that for a while. Inez was still embarrassed about her earlier boldness and Levi enjoying the way she did all these little subconscious quirks, like tapping her fingers against her knees or biting her lip when he shifted slightly in his seat.

"What color will your dress be?"

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes over to her. "Your dress. What color is it?"

"Oh, I don't know. I have to go buy one. I'm actually looking around locally online for one." She scrolled down the page with numerous formal wear. "I'm thinking black. I'm not sure I can pull off color."

Levi gave her a steady look. "I think you could pull anything off."

It was too easy. He sat back and soaked in the blush. "You're embarrassing," she muttered, crunching closer to her screen. "And it will be black. Black is the ultimate color."

"The ultimate color?"

"It goes with everything."

Levi hummed. "You'd look good in red."

"Ew, too flashy."

"Also gold."

"Again, flashy. When we get there we I will hang low and try to learn all I can." She rubbed her eyes and looked over at him. "You have a suit, right?"

"I have a job, right?"

"Well, yeah, but you only ever wear white shirts or a sports jacket to your school."

He cast a dubious eye over her snuggling form. "Do you keep a diary log of my outfits or something?"

Inez gave a lopsided smile and shook her head. "If I did, would that be creepy or endearing?"

"Definitely creepy."

"Then no."

"Weirdo," Levi sneered, changing the channel.

She puffed out her cheeks and hit his arm with a small pillow. "You have no idea how weird I am."

That seemed to interest him as he turned towards her, all previous focus moving from the TV to her. She twisted her fingers together, his scrutiny on her like the most inward-seeking spotlight available.

"Then tell me."

She gawked. "What? Tell you how weird I am?"

"Yep."

"Well, I like _you_, so," the red on her cheeks sapped all the force out of her words. His wrinkles smoothed into a soft grin as he threw the pillow back at her.

"About that…" Inez shut her laptop and kept her eyes on the ground, her words unsure and heavy. "I need to know how you feel about this."

Levi withheld his skeptic sigh. "About what? About making out with you?"

Inez started squirming. "Yes! Well, more than that!" She finally faced him, aversion written on her face. She made sporadic hand gestures in the air between them. "This! What do you want to call this?!"

Levi leaned on one hand. "Well, a lot of it depends on what you want to call it. Friends with benefits, boyfriend and girlfriend, _fuckbuddies," _he dipped his voice down an octave for the last one, "I'm flexible. You're probably flexible, too."

"Oh, _jeeze_," she buried her face into her hands.

"Look, Inez," he was suddenly serious. "Honestly, I don't know where I want to go with this. I would like to date you first before…" He was about to say _"before I jumped your bones" _but cut himself off.

Inez nodded, her face clearing. "Okay. That sounds logical." She glanced at the clock and put away her laptop, standing up. "Well this was…nice, actually."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Levi was only half-serious. She rolled her eyes and started for the door, Levi following after.

She opened the door. Inez dove in, placed a quick kiss on Levi's cheek. "Good night," she grinned, slipping out his door for the second time in just a few hours.


	11. Meet Christa

**Oh look here's Annie. (Hint: she's a sarcastic shit)**

**Oh yeah, also Christa (Because Historia's too long a name to write)**

"Look at these," Annie sneered as she held up a brassiere and matching panties with cats on them. Mikasa looked over at her from her phone and gave a small smile. "Who the hell would wear this?"

"Maybe the crazy cat lady on the corner of Shina."

Annie wrinkled her nose. "Wow, thanks for that image."

Inez's voice came out from behind the curtain. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing. Would you hurry up already? We're going to have to wait forever at the diner." Annie's bored tone was edged with impatience.

"Well, excuse me, Ice Queen. I'm not exactly trying on a pair of jeans, here. Why the hell do so many dresses have to have such weird ass straps?"

Eren, who had been floating around the men's department, returned with a tired glaze over his eyes. "Is she done yet?"

"No," Mikasa and Annie answered.

Eren groaned. "Inez, hurry up I'm starving!"

"Don't rush her, Eren," Annie said loudly. "She has to find the perfect dress to go with her date's eyes."

"Oh, you can all suck my dick," Inez nearly shouted, regretting that drunk phone call to Annie she had made a week ago. She pulled back the curtains and stepped out gingerly in inch-high heels, traipsing over to the mirror.

"How's this?"

Mikasa grinned, Annie let out a low whistle and Eren's mouth dropped open. "Damn girl," a store employee commented, eyeing her form.

"So it looks okay?" Inez asked, turning to look at her back in the mirror.

"Okay? You can take me in the changing room right now, if you wanted," Annie winked, earning a frown from Mikasa. Inez stuck out her tongue and nodded at the store attendant.

"I'll take this one. Do you have any earrings that would go well with it?"

"Honey, I'll get you the earrings and throw in some matching lingerie for free," the attendant replied, wiggling his eyebrows. Inez let out an embarrassed laugh and Eren had to excuse himself, saying something about a Gamestop next door and trying to hide his red ears.

Annie ordered the cheeseburger special, Mikasa got the chicken salad, Eren ordered the submarine with extra fries, and Inez settled on eggs and hash browns.

"So what are you guys doing tonight?" Inez asked as she drank her coffee.

"Annie and I are going to see that new Leonardo Dicaprio film after she finishes studying." Mikasa glanced at the stoic blonde. Annie nodded

"Armin wants to drag me to a party Jean is having, but…" He stuck his tongue out and made a face.

"What's so bad about Jean?" Inez asked innocently.

Eren glared at her. "He's an ass! He's so annoying, always calling me these stupid names and shit! And he's after Armin!"

Mikasa rolled her eyes. "Eren…"

"Well, he _is!_"

"You're paranoid."

"Jean's an ass, end of story."

"Aren't you just mad that he got the starting spot on the soccer team you were after?" Annie quipped.

Inez laughed as Eren lost his shit and proceeded to rant until the food came and Mikasa tugged on his ear to calm him down.

"So when's this business party of yours?" Mikasa asked.

"I have to be at Sina Ballroom at 8."

"Wow, that's late for dinner," Eren said around a mouthful of sub.

"That's kinda the point," Annie drawled from across the table.

"What do people do at business parties?" Eren asked with a look at Annie.

Inez shrugged and scooped up a wad of eggs. "They talk about…business stuff, I guess. You know, promotions, business deals, and financial mumbo jumbo. I've been looking up on the host's company. Hopefully I'll be able to hold up a decent conversation."

"Sounds boring," Eren commented.

Annie and Mikasa nodded. Inez sighed. "I know. But my boss said he wanted me to learn the dos and don'ts of business. And besides—" She stopped herself and took a painfully large gulp of coffee. Annie smirked.

"It won't be too boring. Inez'll be entertained by Levi's ass in a pair of slacks."

Eren cackled while Mikasa hid her laugh in her napkin. Inez turned beet red.

"You are all assholes. Why do I hang out with kids?"

"Cuz you don't have any friends your own age, you weirdo."

"Annie, youare the _head_ asshole."

No-one argued with her.

Inez said bye to the three after lunch and walked back through the mall, carrying her bag filled up with her overly expensive dress—why had she let them talk her into buying it?—and uncomfortable shoes, along with the earrings the store attendant had practically sold her for close to nothing.

She walked by Sephora and caught sight of all the products inside. She stopped and gazed inside, wondering if she should buy some make up. All she had at home was some foundation and mascara. Maybe she should wear some eyeliner or eye shadow? What about lipstick?

"Hi!"

Inez jumped as a small, blonde girl with _huge _blue eyes and clear skin wearing a Sephora apron popped out of nowhere. Inez almost pinched herself to make sure she wasn't some weird daydream. Dear god, were her eyes _sparkling? _

"Are you new to Sephora?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice, smile friendly and warm.

"Er, yeah, I guess. I've only ever bought my stuff at Target so…"

"Well, were you looking for anything specific today? My name's Christa, by the way."

"Inez. And well, I think I need some eye shadow? Or maybe new foundation?"

Christa let out a small giggle. "You don't wear make up a lot, do you?"

"Well, no."

"Are you attending some special event?"

Inez perked up. "Yeah, I am. A dinner party my boss talked me into going to." She grimaced. "I have to wear a dress and heels and everything."

Christa laughed and covered her mouth charmingly. _Jesus, she's like the poster child for lolitas nationwide. _"Well, maybe I can help you. Would you like to come inside?" She gestured to the dimly lit store with pop music and perfume pouring out of it.

"Sure."

Christa led her to a small desk with a countertop covered in brushes and napkins under a bright light. She directed Inez to sit on the high standing stool and prepped her brushes.

"So, what make up do you already have?"

"Uh, foundation and some mascara."

"Okay," Christa nodded, leaning in close. Inez noticed she had brought out a small stool to stand on and bit the inside of her cheek. _This girl could probably turn me. She's too cute. _"What color is your dress?"

"Just black. The heels too. Oh, but the earrings are…well, here, I'll just show you."

The other employees, having a slow day by the looks of it, gathered around and all made sounds of approval when she pulled out her earrings and dress.

"They match your eyes!"

"What color _are _her eyes?"

"Her skin's so smooth!"

"And a beautiful color, too. What is she, NC 39?"

"No, maybe 38. Definitely warm tone."

"Should we go with bronze or green shadow?"

"How about bronze with a tint of metallic green on the crease?"

"Yes!"

"This lipstick would go great with it!"

Christa shooed them away after a while and Inez felt like she could breathe again. Christa gave her an apologetic look and took the lids off of the containers and pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry about them. They're a little too passionate sometimes. And you have some really unique coloring. All we usually get are girls like, well," Christa stuttered.

"Like you?" She gently supplied. The petite girl blushed.

After an hour of Christa showing her how to apply the right shade of foundation, shadow and liner, Inez bought her stuff and left the store all dolled up.

"Thank you so much!" Christa said as she was leaving the store.

"No way, thank you," Inez almost argued. "I had fun playing Barbie for you guys."

Christa laughed. "Please come back again! You were easier to work with than most customers."

Inez smiled and waved as she said bye. She was highly sensitive to the looks that almost every person passing her gave. She felt her face warming up as she turned a corner and waited at the crosswalk until the light changed.

The man next to her scoped her out from the corner of his eye. When she caught him looking he smiled. "Hi. Those bags look heavy, would you like me to carry them for you?"

"Uh, no, thanks. I think I've got it."

"Busy day of shopping?" He asked, smoothly keeping up with her as she walked with the crowd.

"You have no idea," she gave a wink as she turned a sharp corner, leaving him behind. _Naughty Inez. What would Levi say if he found you flirting with other men? _The thought made her frown and she reminded herself that she had to keep herself on a shorter leash from now on.

At that moment she felt her phone vibrate and managed to get it out, sliding the screen over and seeing a message from Levi.

_just making sure you'll be ready to be picked up at 7:30_

She bit her lip and smiled.

_i dont know. thats only 4 hours away. how am I suppose 2 do my hair in that time?_

She hit send and reached her building, entering the elevator. Her phone went off.

_Just wear it like you usually do, like a swam creature_

She pouted. Her phone went off before she could reply.

_Stop pouting._

Her eyes widened and she exited the elevator, eyeing his door and shutting her own behind her.

_That's scary. _

_Or maybe you're just predictable._

_Bite me. _She replied jokingly, putting her bags on the counter. She went to the bathroom and when she came back sat on the couch in her underwear and read his last txt.

_Only if you ask nicely._

Inez made a groaning noise and rolled her eyes.

_I promise I'll be ready 7:30. _

She left her phone on the table and went to work out, taking a shower and shaving for the first time in weeks.


	12. Meet Mike

**Levi underestimates the sexual powers of too many glasses of red wine. (meaning he gets buzzed and gives in to temptation)**

Levi adjusted the cuffs on his suit—simple and black, his tie also black, as well as his pants and shoes—and hair recently trimmed and styled with the right amount of gel. He knew how to look the part of big-shot corporate asshole.

He glanced at his watch and found himself twenty minutes early, grumbling. Always so high-strung and rearing to go, wasn't he?

He was almost sorry he had ever called Erwin and asked for his help in this whole endeavor. But when he thought of inviting Inez to something as mundane or common as a cup of coffee or dinner and a movie, he always blanched. It was too normal, too low-caliber for Inez, who ran at a different speed altogether and always seemed off in a daydream.

So when Erwin informed him of his idea of inviting Inez to a dinner party, Levi was all too eager to encourage him to it.

Levi grabbed a drink of water and wondered just how well he would be able to keep up with the talk of business and snobby bragging of their latest beach house or yacht or company purchase.

Ten minutes to go. He checked the route on his phone one more time and palmed the keys in his pocket. He caught his reflection in the glass cabinets and stared at the dark circles permanently drawn under his deep-set eyes. He never understood what women's fascination with his pale skin and bleak eyes was all about. To be honest he didn't consider himself attractive, but he wasn't above using his voice and choice of words to get what he needed.

He didn't need to use them anymore, but it was fun using his weapons on Inez, who acted like a blushing virgin with the slightest teasing. She was different from the women he had previously associated with.

Five minutes to go. Okay, he was going to be early. He turned off his lights, grabbed his coat and locked the door behind him, taking a quick two steps to the Lovels' door. He rapped his knuckles against the wood and waited a few seconds until Julius answered the door.

"Levi. Evening," he moved aside and let the older male in through the door. "How are you?"

"Great," Levi answered. He wasn't sure if that was sarcastic or honest anymore. "Is Inez ready?"

"Almost. You _are _a few minutes early." After being glared at, he started walking to the stairs. "But I'll let her know you're here."

Julius disappeared behind a corner and after a moment Levi heard a rushed, _"Shut up!" _and Julius was ushered out of a room. He shrugged and grinned. "She's touchy when she has to wear feminine clothes."

"You'd be touchy if you had to wear heels, too," Inez answered a she came out, fingers still struggling to put on an earring. She walked down the carpeted stairs in a jet black dress just above her knees, the neckline a deep V and disappearing behind her neck. Her hair was up in a braided tie, a few wavy strands hanging down around her ears. The earrings in her lobes shimmered with a green-gold fire that reflected the glow of her eyes highlighted by the bronze eye shadow and liner around her lids.

His feet moved forward without his say so as he looked her up and down, taking a strand and tucking it behind her ear. "You look beautiful," he murmured.

Her eyes lit up and a shy smile bloomed along with the red roses on her cheekbones. He had a sudden urge to claim her lips for his own—lip gloss be damned—but was held back by the fact that her older brother was in the room.

"We should get going," Inez said with a glance at the clock. She gathered up her coat and kissed her brother on the check. Levi caught sight of the back of her dress and his fingers itched to touch the smooth expanse of skin peeking through the crisscrossing black straps found there.

"When will you be home?" Julius asked, giving Levi a steady look. Inez shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably midnight. Maybe earlier, maybe later. Let's go, Levi."

Levi nodded at Julius as Inez grabbed her small black handbag and waited for Levi in the hallway. When he closed the door she bit her lip. "You look really good in a suit, by the way."

The corners of his mouth turned up the tiniest bit. He led her to the elevator and ushered her in. When the doors shut he closed the distance between them, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his hand on the middle of her back, thumb slipping underneath a single strap.

"I almost hate how sexy you are right now. Every guy at this place is going to have his eyes on you." He watched her face as he dipped his entire hand under the back of her dress and delighted in her squirming.

"Are you always this touchy?" She breathed, unable to meet his eye. Levi's fingers were calloused and cool, leaving shivers in their wake.

"I'll hold myself back while we're in public," he assured her, removing his hand as the elevator dinged the doors opened. They exited and put on their coats, bracing against the biting autumn wind as they walked to his silver Kia.

They climbed in and he started it up, turning on the radio. Inez smiled as "Pour Some Sugar on Me" filled the space and started singing along. At one point during the ride Levi unexpectedly turned it off, leaving her on her own at the chorus.

"Hey!"

"Go on," he encouraged vaguely.

She gave him a questioning look-over.

"Say the next lyrics." His tone was suspiciously playful.

She realized what they were and shook her head. "You're a pervert, Levi."

"You're the one that pinned me to the couch."

Her eyes flew open and mouth opened in a lost come back. She snapped it shut when she figured he was messing with her. "Do you hate it when I pin you against a surface?"

"Not at all. Maybe next time you can do it in a more private place, though. Like were your brother won't walk in on us fucking."

Inez comically flinched and glared at him. "How can you just…" He reached a red light and gave her a sideways smirk. "Just _say _stuff like that?"

"I recall you saying a similar thing."

"Yeah, when we were in the moment! But just out of nowhere it's…kinda…disconcerting."

"Well, someone integrated their word of the day."

"You are infuriating."

"And yet I'm you're date."

Inez looked down. "Yeah, I guess you are." He felt her watching him with something akin to fascination as they pulled into the Sina Ballroom valet. A busboy opened Inez's door and helped her out, politely avoiding eyeing her straight up. Levi tossed him his keys and offered his bent arm for her.

Inez batted her lashes and took it, stringing her arm through his. "I feel so honored."

"Can it."

She laughed and her eyes widened as they entered the golden, sparkling ballroom with the ornate ceiling, covered in golden paintings and patterns, two huge chandeliers hanging above the floor, shiny and filled with people.

Two attendees took their coats and Inez clutched at her bag nervously.

"There's a lot of people here," she muttered, the hold on his arm tightening. Levi was suddenly incredibly happy that he came with her.

"Just relax. You're not well-known, so I doubt many people are going to approach you. We just need to find Erwin," Levi glanced around.

Inez also watched the room, but more like a cat watches fish in an aquarium and less like a guest at an elegant ballroom. Her eyes were huge, looking at all the graceful women walking with their dates in similar black suits.

Levi spotted the tall blonde CEO a few groups away and tugged on her arm. "Hey, let's go." Inez nodded and walked with him wordlessly. She strode along Levi with flickering confidence, blushing and flinching under the inspection of the other patrons in the room. Levi leaned his face in near hers. "Hey, remember. You're insanely smart and drop dead gorgeous. Don't be scared of those jealous old bitches."

Inez smiled and under the light of the chandeliers she seemed to glow.

As they approached Erwin, said man smiled and managed to break off his current conversation with a posh older man and greeted them.

"Levi, Inez, glad you made it. Inez, you look lovely." Inez dipped her head and thanked him. Erwin looked at the woman with glossy brown hair and a handsome face on his arm. "Levi, this is Marie, my fiancée."

Marie smiled and went in for a hug, Levi returning it rather frigidly. "Levi, I've heard so much about you. I'm blessed to have finally met you."

Levi's eyes flashed over to Erwin and he gave a bow. "Pleasure's all mine, Marie. I'm happy someone's finally taking Erwin off the market."

Marie nodded and drifted her focus to Inez. "And you must be Inez. Erwin brags about you at so many dinners. But he's never mentioned how beautiful you are," she turned towards him with a mock accusation in her words. "You have this young woman running around with the likes of Luke and Gunther?"

Erwin laughed. "If I doubted her safety I would move her to a different floor. But I know what she's capable of." Erwin grew serious. "Speaking of which, I'd like you to meet with Mike." He took Marie's arm and gestured for Levi and Inez to follow him.

They did, watching how Erwin greet each guest with utter professional charm. They reached the northern wall of the ballroom where the windows stretched up for ages until they met the ceiling. Erwin walked right up to an even taller blonde man with a trimmed mustache and rather distinctive nose.

"Mike."

"Erwin," he returned, raising his wine. "Who have you got there?"

"This is Inez Lovel," he answered with a sweep of his arm towards Inez, who left the security of Levi's arm to extend her hand and shake his.

"Inez Lovel, yes. You are the programmer of _Historia X_?"

"Yes, sir."

"Impressive for one your age."

"Thank you, but that's nothing. Right now I'm working on something for the medical industry that will blow _Historia_ out of the water."

Inez felt a thrill at the sudden interest in his eyes and he brought a finger to his chin. "Really, now? I just so happen to be coming into possession of a few lab institutions. Perhaps we can talk about a deal over dessert."

Inez raised an eyebrow and before she could stop herself said, "Wonderful. I look forward to attempting at civilized conversation while trying not spill any chocolate sauce on my lap."

Mike and Erwin both let out a burst of laughter, and Marie gave an apathetic nod. Erwin looked up and said suddenly, "Levi, Inez, why don't you go get a drink, work the room a bit? We'll meet up later."

Levi and Inez agreed and left the window, making their way to the bar, where Inez let out a shaky breath and Levi patted her arm, ordering two glasses of their best white wine.

"You did better than I thought you would." She gave him a glare and accepted her glass.

"How did you think I would do?"

He shrugged. "Okay. But you were fantastic." His eyes narrowed and the walked away from the bar. "Did you _know _that Zacharius had gone into the medical field?"

Inez took a nonchalant sip. "Maybe."

Before he could dig deeper a voice from behind him said, "Inez?"

A man with long dark hair pulled back and wearing an off-black suite and red tie approached the pair. Levi felt a wave of distaste hit him as the young employee ran his eyes over her dress and legs.

"Hey, Luke," she said with easy familiarity. "You're here too, huh? Anyone else from floor 8?"

"Just Erd. Gunther was busy. Wow, you look…amazing."

Inez looped her arm through Levi's. He felt his hate for the man lessen a bit. "Thank you, so do you. Met anyone interesting yet?"

"Hm? Oh, no, not really. My date's in the wash room so I'm just wandering around. Who's this?" He looked down at Levi curiously.

"My date, Levi. Levi, this is Luke, the idiot who thinks he can beat me at Scrabble."

"I _almost _did that one time."

"You never have, you never will. Anyway, if you'll excuse us, we're going to look at more of these beautiful paintings."

They left and Levi growled, "He was checking you out."

"He does that a lot."

"_Really, _now?"

"He's just a friend. I'm kind of seeing this other guy. He's much more attractive."

"Fine, I won't kill Luke."

"Thank you, Levi."

The dinner, held in a dining room equal in grandeur to the ballroom, was no less than exquisite. They had pork, seafood, a medley of different vegetable side dishes and more wine. A lot of wine. More than Levi was used to, and it was so good he didn't stop until the fifth—or was is sixth?—glass, when Inez took it from him.

"What?" He asked.

Inez frowned. "You realize you were talking to a plant for fifteen minutes about the stock market, right?"

"Oh. I could've sworn it was some guy by the name of Berry."

"You are drunk, and we are leaving. I already talked to Mr. Zacharius. And Erwin's too busy entertaining other clients to care about us."

She took his arm and led him through the crowd, accepting their coats at the door and telling the busboy which car was his.

When it pulled up Inez had to force Levi into the passenger's seat. He protested.

"No, Levi. I'm driving, you drunkard."

The ride home was almost silent. Inez felt tense under the constant weight of Levi's steel focus impending down on her, sweeping across her legs, her face. She stayed red the entire way to the parking garage, where she helped him out of the car.

Levi grabbed her hand as they walked. "You were so good at that thing."

"Was I?"

"Yes. You didn't seem nervous at all. You were sexy as hell."

"I am too honored."

They got in the elevator and she was pressed flush against the cool interior, Levi's grip on her bicep and finger under her chin, thumb brushing against her jawbone. She gulped and found herself hypnotized as his hand drifted to her bun and gingerly yanked it loose, squeezing the bunches of curls and waves in his palm.

"You should wear your hair down more often. 'S pretty." He pressed himself against her she could feel his heartbeat. "Smells good, too."

Inez tried to fight down the sudden spike of arousal that coursed through her, peeling him off her as the elevator opened. She dragged him to his room, watching with barely concealed irritation as he struggled to unlock his door, fingers thick with intoxication as his key fought against him.

Once the door was open Inez rushed him in and got her hands under his coat, scattering kisses all around his neck and ear.

"The couch smelled like you, after you left," Levi went on, voice steady even as his body twitched under the attention. "I just laid there for a while and imagined what I'd do to you."

He let her rip off his coat and unbutton his suit, all the while running his fingers up and down her sides. Inez met his eye and he licked his lips at how blown her pupils were, encompassing his very being.

"What would you do to me, Levi?"

He took a deep breath and gained control of the situation, pushing her back to the couch and sitting her on the armrest. He placed a knee in between her legs and turned her face up to his.

"I thought about pressing you into these cushions and making you moan." He rubbed his hands on her thighs, moving to her waist and digging in his fingers. "I thought about getting you out of those clothes, making you beg for me to touch you."

Levi placed his hands over her breasts and squeezed, catching the soft gasp on his tongue as he gave her an open-mouthed kiss, their parted lips molding together. Inez felt as though she were being consumed by some beast with a silky mane and eyes that flashed with cold fire, her teeth scraping against his as he drank her in.

They broke off and Levi managed to get her coat off, hands attacking every show of skin there was and mouth latched onto her neck.

When he sucked at a spot under her ear she moaned and arched against him. He drew back and stared. She turned away. "My…my neck's real touchy."

Levi lit up with sinister glee and dipped his head down for more, vaguely aware of her stripping off his suit and grabbing at his belt. He nipped at her pulse, she pulled his belt down and ground their groins together, making them both pant.

"So pretty," Levi breathed, licking her jugular and tugging with teeth at her ear. Inez was slowly losing her cool, every nerve like a live fuse as Levi left burns across her arms with artful grabs and swipes. She bucked forward, scared at how quickly she was succumbing to blind want.

Inez leaned up and popped off his shirt's buttons with her teeth, kissing at his exposed collarbone. "Please," she nearly begged, tugging at his shirt, "take this off. Let me see you."

Levi's smirk resurface and he straightened up, fingers hovering above his buttons teasingly. "You want me to take off my shirt?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

She growled and tried to get her hands on him, failing when he pinned them above her head and floated above her. Without warning he pushed his hips down and forward, groaning at the friction. Inez stopped him. "My dress," she got out, face red and eyes glazed.

He shimmied the straps down her shoulders and attacked the exposed skin with renewed fervor, not stopping as she slipped her arm through the loops in a somewhat awkward fashion. He paused as his hand rested on the neckline of her dress above her chest.

"Are you sure?" Levi steadied his hand and looked her in the face.

"Hell yeah," she answered. "Please. I'm begging here."

He let out a strained chuckle at her smile and pulled down her dress, internally moaning at the black bra he found there. Her dress was running up to her waist, Levi's pants chafing against her thigh.

"Your pants…are annoying," she paused when he kissed in between her breasts and cupped them over her bra. "Take them off."

He undid his belt and let his pants drop, leaving her on the cushions to catch her breath. He angrily tore his shoes off he stepped out of his pants, breathing out a sigh of relief as the confines of his pants disappeared.

He started when Inez stood up, letting the dress fall off her body and leaving her in black lingerie and heels. She smirked as his predatory gaze ran over her curves. She took a step towards him, resting her arms on his shoulders and pressing her forehead to his. "I really like you, Levi."

His breath hitched and she nearly yelled as he swept her up over his shoulder, carrying her back to his room and plopping her unceremoniously onto the bed.

Inez couldn't stop laughing even as Levi climbed over her. He kissed her ear and ran his hands up her ribcage. "What?"

"You…you carried me like a sack of flour, you weirdo! What the hell?!" She snickered, slowly becoming more and more heated as he drifted down to her abs, blowing over her bellybutton. He attacked his mouth to her hip bone, smooth and strong. "Oh, God, Levi you're so gorgeous." Her hips rolled under the attention, Levi moving up and undo her bra and free her breasts, giving quick, hot licks to her nipples and succeeding in making her whine. His fingers were suddenly pressing her through her underwear and she gasped, bucking.

"Please," she begged.

Levi couldn't say no, and moved lower.

In the morning Levi woke up to messy sheets smelling of Inez and the feel of sweat sticking to him. He checked his phone and found a message from her.

_Hey, I went home early this morning to trick Julius…I'm not sure I want him knowing I spent the night. _

He smirked and the headache from last night's wine knocked him down a step.

_I'm going into the office today, so I wont be free til around 4. _

Levi ran a hand through his hair and tried to remember exactly what happened, a warm feeling settling in his stomach as he noticed a black bra on the floor of his room. He had a vague, smoky recollection of snippets from last night; the couch, the bed, _Oh Levi, you're gorgeous, _hearing her sweet cries as his tongue twisted in pleasure-seeking swipes, two eyes of golden-laced green looking up at him as she made him lose himself.

He realized he had a text from Hanji. _So? How was the dinner?! _

He smirked as he imagined denying her any of the juicy details.


	13. Buena Suerte

"What are you always doing on your computer?"

Eren asked with a mouthful of muffin. Inez looked up from her screen, her fingers pausing in their rapid-fire tapping to take a sip of her coffee. "Stuff."

His eyes narrowed. "What kind of stuff?"

"Computer stuff."

Eren leaned back and glared out the window. "You're worse than Mikasa."

"You can always hang out with people your own age instead of an old lady at a coffee shop."

"You're not old," Eren argued. "You're, like, 21 years old."

Inez smiled. "Thanks, but try 24."

"Wait," Eren said suddenly. "How old is Mr. Levi?"

"Uh…" She actually didn't know. "I'm going to guess 28 to 50."

Eren laughed. "Maybe he's 60 and drinks a lot of vegetable juice."

"And gets Botox."

"He probably carries a bottle of Viagra."

They laughed and drew some angry looks from an older lady sitting by, at which point they covered their mouths and filled them with pastries and caramel macchiato.

"So how was your dinner thing?"

"It was…good, actually. I wasn't half bad at the whole 'business talk' shtick."

Annie and Mikasa entered the café and joined them. Eren gave them a look and finished off his pastry. "You two took your time. School got out an hour ago."

"My math lecture didn't finish until 4. And then Mikasa needed to stop and get something." Annie informed him, taking out her wallet and looking at Mikasa. "What do you want?"

"Just a latte," Mikasa and Eren harmonized, the Asian girl giving him an unamused frown. Eren, pleased with himself, went back to his reading.

"I'll come with you," Inez said, grabbing her empty cup. "I need a refill."

She walked up to the counter with Annie and they paid for their orders, waiting at the end of the counter. Annie pushed back her bangs to get a good look at the taller women. "How did last night go?"

Inez shrugged but gave a blinding smile. "It was fun. My boss was seriously impressed. And that dress you picked out really helped me out."

"Got any pictures?"

Inez cocked her head to the side. "Uh, no?"

Annie sighed. "Inez, next time, take some selfies for Christ's sake. Besides, I was asking about what happened after the party." Her glacial eyes sparkled knowingly.

Inez cleared her throat. "I…helped him home. He was tipsy."

Annie stared.

"And then I left."

She yawned.

"…at three in the morning."

Annie laughed. "Wow that was easy. Did you two," she made a vulgar gesture with her hands and Inez swatted at them.

"Don't do that," she hissed, looking around. She sighed and messed with her ponytail. "We…got undressed and all…but we didn't, you know, go _all the way._"

"God, you sound like a teenager. Why didn't you 'go all the way'?"

Inez turned red. "Well, after messing around and…after he…y'know, got his," she found she couldn't look the blonde in the eye, "he kinda passed out. He had like five glasses of wine before."

Annie made sure she wasn't joking before laughing louder than Inez had ever heard, drawing looks from their table and the server who gave them their coffees.

"Shut up," Inez pleaded as they walked back to the table. Eren furrowed his brow. "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Annie replied, settling back into her usual deadpan.

The other two remained unconvinced, but one look at Inez's mortified expression deterred them from asking.

Levi got up and dumped his lunch in the can and gave a few stretches. He still had another two and a half hours stuck in this hell hole. It was the day before Christmas break, and as such the students were _not _focused, _at all. _

To make matters worse, he hadn't seen head nor tail of Inez the past few days; they had been texting, and making the occasional phone call at night, but no face to face time. She had been picking up hours at the office; he was wrapping up the semester and, for some reason he didn't quite know, taken up writing again.

Levi wasn't sure what had inspired him to break open those old files and dust off the notebook, but there he was at 2 a.m. typing, researching, scribbling out character traits and plot tools in different color pens like a preschooler. He was rereading his material, going over notes and revising plot curves like a maniac.

It was strange that he found himself missing her bugging him with irrelevant questions and Walking Dead facts while eating his food, but he was. And that was something he had never experienced before.

Levi tensed up as someone walked behind him; it was Julius, searching through the fridge for his lunch.

"Hey," he said.

Levi returned his nod and went back to his papers, only to find him sitting at his table.

"So Inez said she had a fun time at the dinner party."

Levi raised his brow. "Did she? I'm glad."

Julius nodded slowly, fixing him with a hardened stare. "She didn't get home until late into the morning."

Levi felt his palms sweat and swallowed. "She helped me to my apartment. I was bit under the influence after the dinner."

Julius took a few terse bites of salad and sighed. "Look, Levi. I'm really trying not to be the overprotective older brother here, but understand me when I say I have seen what happens to the men that lead Inez on." He held Levi's glare unflinchingly. "All I want is for her to be happy, and I've never seen her happier than when she's talking about you."

Levi felt a strange, blooming warmth in his chest and forced it down. He cleared his throat. "Does this constitute as your acceptance?"

Julius shrugged. "I suppose. Levi, there is a saying in Spain: _Echar una mano es perder; para engañar a una mujer es morir. _I believe a similar saying in English is, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."

"_The Mourning Bride, _William Congreve," Levi answered coolly despite his growing uncertainty.

Julius mirrored his sister and rolled his eyes. "Yes. You know your literature. What I'm saying is, _Buena suerte._"

He left the break room with his salad and Levi felt the urge to rip his hair out because 1) he didn't know what _buena suerte _meant and 2) what the hell was he getting into with Inez?


	14. Childhood Sucked

**So there's some mention of past violence in this one, including some blood. A little peek into Levi and Inez's childhoods. (because no interesting protagonist has a good childhood.)**

Levi met up with Inez at the gym on Wednesday, two days before she and Julius were scheduled for leaving. They skipped on the sparring and Levi took a break from his squats to watch Inez run circles—literally—around the other runners. He found himself watching the ripple of muscles flow under her taut skin, remembering their hazy roll in the hay after the dinner.

She caught him watching and gave a cocky grin, suddenly picking up her heels and blasting off. Levi shook his head and turned back to the rack to find Jaeger and his sister next to him at the bench.

He watched as Eren laid down and flexed his arms, positioning himself under the bar. He nodded at Mikasa and she helped him lift off. He only managed to do a set of eight before his arms started quaking.

"That's pitiful, Jaeger." Levi informed him. Eren glared but didn't retort, going for another round. Levi finished his squats in time for Mikasa to take over the bench, adding ten pounds each side. Levi stopped on his way to the water fountain when Eren waved him down.

"What is it?"

Eren was silent for a moment as he watched Mikasa do her set. "I got a letter from Trost U."

"And?"

Eren exhaled angrily and chewed the inside of his cheek. "They rejected me. Promised they could reconsider with another submission, but even I know that's bullshit."

Mikasa put down the bar and sat up. "Eren, you don't know that. Maybe they _would_—"

"Mikasa got in," Eren sneered. "I mean, _obviously, _who thought you couldn't? Got a scholarship for what was it Mikasa, $20,000?"

"Hey," Levi curtly cut him off. "Don't turn this on your sister. If you didn't get in, you didn't get in _this time around. _There are plenty other options, if you just stop being an immature shit about it."

"I don't want another option!" Eren got looks from his outburst and toned it down. "I'm going to Trost or not going at all."

"Eren," Mikasa warned.

"Why is Trost so damn important?" Levi asked him.

At that Eren fell silent and stalked away, pushing past Inez, who sent him a confused glare. "What's up with him?"

Mikasa shrugged and left the bench, her spot replaced by Inez. "What's up with _her?_" She asked Levi. He shrugged.

"They're being brats. Need a spotter?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. What is this," she peered at the weights, "130? Damn, Mimi. Okay, let's go."

She gripped the bar and raised it, lowering at a slower speed and pushing it back up, her chest expanding with her pushes. Levi watched with growing interest.

"Did you want to come over tonight?" He asked, hands ready to catch her weight. She paused and looked at him with undisguised delight.

"Yeah! We've only got four more episodes of…the Walking Dead," she paused as she lifted the bar. Levi stood closer than usual and bent his back so he was hanging over her head, hands, floating above the bar.

"Only four? Too bad. I was really enjoying the endings to the recent ones." Since the dinner night all their movie nights had ended in intense make out sessions that lead to one of them nearly crossing that line they had set up. Inez was already flushed from her run; her golden-green eyes widened and Levi felt the need to kiss the spot between them.

He surveyed the room and found it empty except for one other participant who was engrossed in watching his biceps flex as he worked and indulged himself, chastely pressing his lips in the center of her eyebrows.

"Wha—" She broke off in a conflicted whine and her arms bent, Levi catching the bar and placing it back on the rack with ease. Her mouth twisted in an impressed smirk and she mouthed, 'Wow'.

Inez sat up and pouted. "You suck to work out with. I only got in 10 reps."

"Move. My turn." Inez got up as he slid a thirty-five off the hold. "Grab another one for me, will ya?" Inez did and slid another on the opposite side. Levi got into position and started his rounds.

"Was Eren talking about his rejection to Trost U? He was pretty torn up about it last night."

Levi paused to look up at her, a bead of sweat running from his hair line. "You were talking to…Jaeger last night?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. He had a math problem and Mikasa wasn't around to bug. So he called me and I got it out of him." She watched his arms pump up in down absent mindedly. "That kid…he's not as smart as Mikasa but…I seriously think he could do almost anything he wanted to. He's scary like that."

Levi let the weight drop heavily on the rack. "I know what you mean. He's got this kind of…will power that's almost insatiable."

"Insatiable? Calm down there, Edgar Allen Poe." Inez saw the last other occupant leave the weight room and turned to Levi, giving him a devious grin. He raised a signature eyebrow.

"What?"

"Do you…wanna try something?"

His interest was instantly piqued. "Depends."

"Well, I read," she moved and grabbed a twenty-five, sliding it on one side, "that a sudden spike of testosterone can up your strength like crazy. And," She slid on another twenty-five, "I read on how to do it."

"How?"

"You'll see. Ready?"

Levi grunted and laid back under the bar. He rotated his shoulders and took a deep breath, lifting it and feeling the strain of it immediately. He had already worked his arms, and this wasn't exactly a light load. He gritted his teeth and brought it back down, cursing the shakiness of his hold.

Suddenly he felt a pressure on his hips and found Inez straddling him, a playful glint in her grin and hands resting on his abs. She picked at his waistband. "Feel the spike yet?"

Actually, yes, he could. His shaking stopped and he managed to get in ten reps, muscles burning and out of breath, finding Inez's hands brushing his as she helped him place it down again. She kept her hands on the bar and pressed her lower bits against him. "Watching that was more of a turn on than you could ever imagine."

He glared and snaked his hands onto her ass, pressing her harder against him. "You're giving me a hard on in public. What the hell am I supposed to do about it?"

"We could go into the locker room. Get you in a shower for easy clean up."

"Christ, Inez," he groaned as she grinded against him in circles. She let her elbows drop onto his chest and breathed onto his lips.

"My name sounds so good when you say it," she told him, all usual modesty gone from sight. Her different personas—how she could go from a ditzy computer nerd who blushed at every innuendo he dropped to this lust-driven, dark-eyed vixen—never ceased to throw him off his balance. "I'd love to hear it on those tile-walled shower stalls. I'd love to hear your moans in there, too."

Levi grasped her nape and brought her face up to his. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Inez leaned in. Suddenly a flat voice sucked the tension out of the air between them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Levi flinched and hit his forehead against Inez's, effectively getting her out of his lap. They looked up at Mikasa, standing there was a slightly repulsed look on her face. She nodded her head at the two guys just entering the room. "Stop doing disgusting things in public."

"Shut up!" Inez fumed, only slightly annoyed. Levi rubbed his neck and shot icy daggers her way. She was unaffected by them and turned away, saying, "Eren and I are heading home."

"Okay. Dinner tomorrow? My place?"

Mikasa gave her smile that was barely there and nodded. Levi gave her a look. "You and Julius are having the brats over for dinner?"

Inez dusted her hands and resituated her ponytail. "Well, not Julius. He's spending the last couple days at _Vivien's _house," she spat out the name with utter distaste.

"The nice-lookin' blonde?"

Inez frowned. "You think she's good looking?"

Levi walked by her, brushing her waist his hand. "Don't go getting jealous on me, Lovel." He breathed into her ear. She shivered and followed him to the car.

Inez fell back into the pillows with Levi following suit, lips in constant contact. He kissed into her curls, freshly showered and still damp, smelling like coconut, moving to her neck and chuckling into warm skin when she mewled.

"What is it with you and my neck?" She got out between bites.

"You make such lovely noises when I do this," he bit down hard and sucked, lapping at the marks he left there. He succeeded in make her choke back a moan.

"Perverted old man."

He grazed his teeth over her collarbone, hand moving south to stroke her through those ridiculous Star Wars boxers. Her breath got heavier and she moved frantically against him, pawing at his shirt. His mouth moved down to her tank top and mouthed at the exposed parts of breasts he found there.

"Levi," she breathed. "Talk to me. Please."

"What exactly would you like me to say?"

"Like after the dinner party—when you were tipsy—more of that, babe, please."

Her needy tone echoed around in his head as _babe, please, _and he pushed her shirt up, nuzzling her thick core. "You look so good like this, Inez. Just laying here, under me, begging for me take you apart. Look at you," he pressed two fingers up hard and felt her thrumming underneath him. "I bet you'd scream if I fucked you hard enough."

Her head lolled back as he slipped his fingers under the waistband and found the warm wetness there more than a little arousing. Levi put pressure on her clit and rubbed hard, earning a gasp followed by a groan that went straight to his pants.

He prodded at her entrance and latched onto her mouth, sucking at the tongue he found there and feeling her losing control. She broke the connection and tried to get him to stop. "Levi, s-stop, I'm…"

Levi slipped in a finger and curled up, hitting her sweet spot and growling into her ear. "Come for me, Inez."

She did, back arching and eyes squeezed shut as her mouth opened in a silent scream. She was left breathing heavily and frowning. "You keep making me come in my pajamas like a teenager without letting me return the favor."

Levi sat up and shrugged, grabbing the towel and throwing it at her. "We're already moving pretty quickly. I want to try and take things slow."

Inez pouted and dried her hair. "I'm pretty sure you're due for at least a hand job. What's the big deal?"

Levi got up and left the room, heading to the kitchen. Agitation made her scowl and she followed him. "Levi, what the hell? Ever since the dinner you haven't let me come near you. What is your problem?"

Levi was clearly tense, turning on the dishes on the drying rack and starting to wash them again. Inez watched with a pinch of concern but let it go, sitting down at the bar. She laid her head down and watched him. "Levi, please. What is it?"

Levi willed her to leave, to leave his apartment and leave him to his thoughts and cleaning. He knew what was holding him back from letting his guard down, but refused to admit it. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"That's a load of shit," she retorted. "The entire time I've been around you, you always act like you've got something to hide. And from the way you absolutely fucking refuse to tell me anything about your life outside of teaching, I've got half a reason to believe you a_re _hiding something from me!"

Levi scrubbed harder at his plate, a vein on his neck becoming more prominent. "So what?" He spat out, glaring at her from the corner of his eye. "There are things I don't tell people I've known for fifteen years, why the hell should I tell you?"

He saw the hurt there, felt the sting, but left it at that, expecting her to walk out in a familiar fashion he was used to. Instead, she sat behind him on the counter, voice low and sincere.

"Julius isn't my real brother," she started. His hands stopped. "When I was five, my parents got into some gambling trouble and fell into the wrong place with the wrong people. The story is they went for a camping trip and got lost in the mountains but…I know better.

"I got sent to this orphanage and I fucking hated it. I didn't get along with the kids, none of the parents liked me, yada yada. So I started sneaking out whenever I could, and met Rin and Julius. I started spending more and more time with them and was eventually adopted by their grandparents. Things got…interesting. The same guys that wanted my parents' money came after me, and…"

He tuned to look at her and she shrugged, eyes unfocused on the floor. "Rin's _tio _is a famous member of the Police Corps in Madrid. He started giving the guys self-defense courses, and extended them to me. I was…pretty good at it, and when we got to guns I only got better. Julz wasn't into the guns and fighting and all that. It was mostly Rin and I taking care of business. And when I started dabbling in computer hacking, we were able to find the guys that had been tracking me for the last ten years and…persuade them to leave me alone."

Levi tapped his fingers against the counter. "Are you telling me you were fifteen when you offed your first gang members?"

Inez snapped out of her trance and gave a nervous smile. "I didn't 'off' anyone. Just…scared them a bit. And this was after years of having to watch my back and carry a gun around with me everywhere. And besides, my little sister Valerie was getting older and they were scaring her." Her gaze darkened and Levi caught a glimpse of some feral shine hidden there. "They actually threatened her. A seven-year-old. One guy got his hands on her. I cut off most of his fingers."

Inez snapped out of it and looked back at Levi, who was watching her with undisturbed steadiness. "So, erm, that's my crazy history."

Levi hummed. "Are you insinuating that I owe you a story?"

Inez slowly shook her head. "You don't owe me anything. I just wanted to tell you."

She slid off the counter and walked to the door. "I've got some work to do. I'll text you later."

She left Levi alone with his soap and he found his usual enthusiasm gone, letting the plates float in the sudsy water. He held his head in his hands and tried to push back the images flashing I front of him.

Screams, angry and defiant.

He bit his tongue, starting to pace.

The shadow of his old man standing over his mother's silhouette.

Levi, only eight and still tiny, cowering under the table.

The shouting. It was always there, always hidden under whispers and terse dinner talk. But now the shouting came with a knife.

The sickening _shlick. _His mother, falling on the table.

The blood, dripping down the sides as that sound hit him again, and again, and _again, _the blood never stopping. So much blood, he didn't know a human could have so much.

Levi sat on his couch, the TV sounding miles away.

Red staining the carpet, his mother's carpet. His father, still screaming, dragging Levi out and screaming at him to _clean it, fucker. Clean it all up. _

Scrubbing the carpet at gunpoint, too numb to cry. The new stain he had to clean when his father turned the gun on himself.

His fingers itched to reach for his bleach, his detergent, his rags, to scrub and scrub until he could wash it all away.

Instead he got up and went to find Inez.

"So, after your dad went crazy, you went to live with your grandparents?" Inez sat a steaming mug of tea down in front of him and dropped onto her knees on the couch next to him. Levi took it and drank it heartily, relishing the scorching sensation it gave his tongue. He sensed her disapproval but finished half the cup anyway.

"Yeah."

"I see." Inez blew over her tea and took a sip. She bit her lip and placed a hand on his thigh. "Levi, that's horrible, what happened to you. But, I guess you know that already." She turned toward him and searched his eyes. "Is that…is that why you need to clean so much?"

Levi nodded slowly. "After it happened the therapist tried to get me on some drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder, but they made me insanely sick and mentally unstable. So he decided that cleaning and exercise were appropriate outlets—as long as I didn't let them rule my life." He shrugged. "I can usually make myself stop whenever but…sometimes I have dreams about it and I get up in the middle of the night to clean. It makes me feel better."

Inez nodded slowly. "I can't say I completely understand how that feels but…I'm really happy you told me." She kissed his cheek and they settled deeper on the couch, mindlessly watching the TV. "Want to watch A Christmas Story?"

Levi gave a very convincing groan. "Oh God, I've seen it about ten times now."

"It's like an unspoken tradition to watch it until you can quote the entire movie. Have you gotten there yet?"

"…if I say yes, can we watch something else?"

"I'm taking that as a no, so we're watching it."

"I hate you." Levi declared, crossing his arms.

"_That's _the spirit."


End file.
